-NRLF 


B   M   5bl   772 


sITION 

er-Key  to  Progress 


Rear-Admiral  BRADLEY  A.FISKE,  LLD. 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

PRESENTED  BY 

PROF.  OftARLES  A.  KOFOID  AND 
MRS.  PRUDENCE  W.  KOFOID 


INVENTION,  THE   MASTER-KEY 
TO    PROGRESS 


INVENTION 

THE  MASTER-KEY 
TO   PROGRESS 


BY 

REAR-ADMIRAL  BRADLEY  A.  FISKE,  LL.D. 

UNITED    STATES    NAVY 

Former    Aid    for    Operations    of   the    Fleet,    President   U.    S.    Naval    Institute, 
Gold  Medallist  of  U.  S.  Naval  Institute,  the  Franklin  Institute 

and   the   Aero   Club   of   America. 

Author    of    "Electricity    in    The9ry    and    Practice,"    "War    Time    in    Manila," 
"The   Navy   as  a   Fighting  Machine,"   "From   Midshipman   to 

Rear -Admiral,"  '  The  Art  of  Fighting,"  etc. 

Inventor  of  the  Gun  Director  System,  the  Naval  Telescope  Sight,  the  Stadim- 

eter,  the  Turret  Range   Finder,  the  Horizometer, 

the  Torpedoplane,  etc.,  etc.,  etc. 


NEW   YORK 
E.  P.  BUTTON  &  COMPANY 

681  FIFTH  AVENUE 


Copyright,  1921, 
By  E.  P.  Dutton  &  Company 

All  Rights  Reserved 


FEINTED   IN    THE   UNITED 
STATES    OF    AMERICA 


TI5 

FS3 


PREFACE 

/"TTVO  show  that  inventors  have  accomplished  more 
than  most  persons  realize,  not  only  in  bringing 
forth  new  mechanisms,  but  in  doing  creative  work  in 
many  walks  of  life,  is,  in  part,  the  object  of  this  book. 
To  suggest  what  they  may  do,  if  properly  encouraged, 
is  its  main  intention.  For,  since  it  is  to  inventors 
mainly  that  we  owe  all  that  civilization  is,  it  is  to 
inventors  mainly  that  we  must  look  for  all  that 
civilization  can  be  made  to  be. 

The  mind  of  man  cannot  even  conceive  what  wonders 
of  beneficence  inventors  may  accomplish:  for  the 
resources  of  invention  are  infinite. 


M34928S 


The  author  is  indebted  to  Ginn  &  Company,  Boston, 
for  the  use  of  illustrations  from  "General  History  for 
Colleges  and  High  Schools,"  by  Philip  Van  Ness 
Myers,  and  "Ancient  Times,  A  History  of  the  Early 
World,"  by  James  Henry  Breasted,  and  to  George  H. 
Doran  Company,  New  York,  for  the  use  of  a  map 
from  "A  History  of  Sea  Power,"  by  William  Oliver 
Stevens  and  Allan  Westcott. 


vi 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  INVENTION  IN  PRIMEVAL  TIMES 1 

II.  INVENTION  IN  THE  ORIENT 24 

III.  INVENTION  IN  GREECE 51 

IV.  INVENTION  IN  ROME:  ITS  RISE  AND  FALL  .     .  81 
V.  INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  OF  PRINTING  .      .  101 

VI.  COLUMBUS,  COPERNICUS,  GALILEO  AND  OTHERS  125 

VII.  THE  RISE  OF  ELECTRICITY,  STEAM  AND  CHEM- 
ISTRY   148 

VIII.  THE  AGE  OF  STEAM,  NAPOLEON  AND  NELSON  .   179 

IX.  INVENTIONS  IN  STEAM,  ELECTRICITY,  AND  CHEM- 
ISTRY CREATE  A  DANGEROUS  ERA  ....  203 

X.  CERTAIN  IMPORTANT  CREATIONS  OF  INVENTION, 

AND  THEIR  BENEFICENT  INFLUENCE  .     .     .231 

XL  INVENTION  AND  GROWTH  OF  LIBERAL  GOVERN- 
MENT AND  AMERICAN  CIVIL  WAR  ....  255 

XII.  INVENTION  OF  THE  MODERN  MILITARY  MA- 
CHINE, TELEPHONE,  PHONOGRAPH,  AND  PRE- 
VENTIVE MEDICINE 279 

XIII.  THE     CONQUEST    OF     THE     ETHER  —  MOVING 

PICTURES — RISE  OF  JAPAN  AND  THE  UNITED 
STATES 301 

XIV.  THE  FRUITION  OF  INVENTION 322 

XV.  THE  MACHINE  OF  CIVILIZATION,  AND  THE  DAN- 
GEROUS IGNORANCE  CONCERNING  IT,  SHOWN 
BY  STATESMEN .  333 

XVI.  THE  FUTURE       .     .     .     .     .     ...     .'••  .  341 

vii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Carvings  in  Ivory  and  in  Stone  of  Cavern  Walls  made 

by  the  Hunters  of  the  Middle  Stone  Age  ...  3 

Early    Babylonian    Signs,     Showing    Their    Pictorial 

Origin 27 

Villa  of  an  Egyptian  Noble 34 

The  Pyramids  of  Gizeh 36 

Assyrians  Flaying  Prisoners  Alive 44 

Two   Cretan   Vases «      ....  52 

Insurgent  Captives  Brought  Before  Darius  ....  58 

The  Lighthouse  of  the  Harbor  of  Alexandria  in  the 

Hellenistic   Age 77 

Triumphal  Procession  from  the  Arch  of  Titus  ...  96 

The  Printing  of  Books 113 

Portuguese  Voyages  and  Possessions 126 

Hero's  Engines        150 

Hero's  Altar  Engine .     .  151 

Leupold's   Engine     .           154 


INVENTION,  THE   MASTER-KEY 
TO    PROGRESS 


INVENTION,  THE  MASTER-KEY 
•'"•;   TO  PROGRESS 

CHAPTER    I 
INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES 


original  ancestors  dwelt  in  caves  and  wilder- 
nesses  ;  had  no  sewed  or  fabricated  clothing  of  any 
kind;  subsisted  on  roots  and  nuts  and  berries;  pos- 
sessed no  arts  of  any  sort;  were  ignorant  to  a  degree 
that  we  cannot  imagine,  and  were  little  above  the 
brutes  in  their  mode  of  living.  Today,  a  considerable 
fraction  of  the  people  who  dwell  upon  the  earth  enjoy 
a  civilization  so  fine  that  it  seems  to  have  no  connec- 
tion with  the  brutish  conditions  of  primeval  life.  Yet, 
as  these  pages  show,  a  perfectly  plain  series  of  inven- 
tions can  be  seen,  starting  from  the  old  conditions  and 
building  up  the  new. 

The  progress  of  man  during  the  countless  ages 
of  prehistoric  times  is  hidden  from  our  knowledge, 
except  in  so  far  as  it  has  been  revealed  to  us  by  ruins 
of  ancient  cities,  by  prehistoric  utensils  of  many  kinds, 
and  by  inscriptions  carved  on  monuments  and  tablets. 
The  sharp  dividing  line  between  prehistoric  times  and 
historic  times,  seems  to  be  that  made  by  the  art  of 
writing;  for  this  epochal  invention  rendered  possible 
the  recording  of  events,  and  the  consequent  beginning 
of  history. 

Of  prehistoric  times  we  have,  of  course,  no  writ- 

1 


2  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ten  record;  and  we  have  but  the  most  general  means  of 
estimating  how  many  millenniums  ago  man  first  had  his 
being.  Geological  considerations  indicate  a  beginning 
so  indefinitely  and  exceedingly  remote  that  the  imagi- 
nation may  lose  itself  in  speculations  as  to  his  mode 
of  living  during  those  forever-hidden  centuries  that 
dragged  along,  before  man  had  advanced  so  far  in  his 
progress  toward  civilization  as  to  make  and  use  the 
rude  utensils  which  the  researches  of  antiquarians  have 
revealed. 

Inasmuch  as  the  most  important  employment  of  man 
from  his  first  breath  until  his  last  has  always  been  the 
struggle  to  preserve  his  life;  inasmuch  as  the  endeavor 
of  primeval  man  to  defend  himself  against  wild  beasts 
must  have  been  extremely  bitter  (for  many  were 
larger  and  stronger  than  he),  and  inasmuch  as  man 
eventually  achieved  the  mastery  over  them,  one  seems 
forced  to  conclude  that  man  overcame  wild  beasts  by 
employing  some  means  to  assist  his  bodily  strength, 
and  that  probably  his  first  invention  was  a  weapon. 

The  first  evidences  of  man's  achievements  that  we 
have  are  rude  implements  of  stone  and  flint,  evidently 
shaped  by  some  force  guided  by  some  intelligence; — 
doubtless  the  force  of  human  hands,  guided  by  the  in- 
telligence of  human  minds.  Many  such  have  been 
found  in  caves  and  gravel-beds  over  all  the  world. 
They  were  rough  and  crude,  and  indicate  a  rough  and 
crude  but  nevertheless  actual  stage  of  civilization. 
Some  call  this  the  Old  Stone  Age  and  others  call  it  the 
Early  Stone  Age.  Besides  stone  and  flint,  bones,  horns 
and  tusks  were  used.  Among  the  implements  made 
were  daggers,  fish-hooks,  needles,  awls  and  heads  of 
arrows  and  harpoons.  One  of  the  most  interesting 
revelations  of  those  rude  and  immeasurably  ancient  im- 
plements is  the  fact  that  man,  even  in  those  times,  pos- 
sessed the  artistic  sense;  for  on  some  of  them  can  be 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES  3 


Carvings  in  Ivory  (1  and  3-7)  and  in  Stone  of  Cavern  Walls 
(2),  made  by  the  Hunters  of  the  Middle  Stone  Age 


4  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

seen  rough  but  clear  engravings  of  natural  objects,  and 
even  of  wild  animals. 

Men  naturally  supported  themselves  mainly  by  hunt- 
ing and  fishing,  as  savages  do  now;  and  it  was  because 
they  had  invented  suitable  implements  and  weapons  for 
practicing  those  necessary  arts,  that  their  efforts  were 
successful.  The  first  weapon  was  probably  the  fist- 
hatchet,  a  piece  of  sharpened  flint  about  nine  inches 
long,  that  he  grasped  in  his  hand.  At  some  time  dur- 
ing the  centuries  of  the  Old  Stone  Age,  someone  in- 
vented a  much  finer  weapon,  that  continued  to  be  one 
of  the  most  important  that  was  known,  until  the  inven- 
tion of  the  gun,  and  is  used  even  now  in  savage  lands — 
the  bow  and  arrow.  What  a  tremendous  advantage 
this  weapon  was  in  fighting  wild  beasts  (and  also  men 
not  possessing  it)  it  is  not  hard  for  us  to  see;  for  the 
arrow  tipped  with  flint  or  bone,  could  be  shot  over 
distances  far  greater  than  the  spear  or  javelin  could 
be  thrown,  and  with  sufficient  force  to  kill.  The  club 
and  spear  had  probably  been  devised  before,  for  they 
were  simpler  and  more  easily  imagined  and  constructed. 

How  the  bow  and  arrow  came  to  be  invented  we 
have  no  intimation.  The  invention  of  the  club  and 
spear  did  not  probably  involve  much  creative  effort,  so 
simple  were  those  instruments,  and  so  like  the  branches 
that  could  be  broken  from  the  trees.  Yet,  to  the  un- 
trained mind  of  the  primeval  savage,  the  idea  of  sharp- 
ening a  straight  branch  of  wood  into  a  fine  point  at  the 
end,  in  order  that  penetration  through  the  skin  might 
be  facilitated,  must  have  come  as  an  inspiration.  No 
such  thing  as  a  spear  exists  as  a  spear  in  nature,  and 
therefore  the  making  of  a  spear  was  a  creative  act. 
To  us,  the  use  of  the  spear  as  a  projectile  may  not  seem 
to  have  required  the  inventive  faculty — unless  the  hurl- 
ing of  stones  may  also  be  supposed  to  have  required  it. 
It  may  be,  however,  that  with  the  dull  mind  of  prime- 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES  5 

val  men,  even  the  idea  of  using  stones  or  javelins  as 
projectiles  was  the  result  of  a  distinct,  and  perhaps 
startling  inspiration. 

The  invention  of  the  bow  and  arrow  was  one  of  the 
first  order  of  brilliancy,  and  would  be  so  even  now. 
It  is  not  easy  to  think  of  any  simple  accident  as 
accounting  for  the  invention;  because  the  bow  and 
arrow  consists  of  three  entirely  independent  parts — the 
straight  bar  of  wood,  the  string,  and  the  arrow;  for 
the  bow  was  not  a  bow  until  the  string  had  been  fast- 
ened to  each  end,  and  drawn  so  tight  that  the  bar  of 
wood  was  forced  into  a  bent  shape,  and  held  there  at 
great  tension.  When  one  realizes  this,  and  realizes  in 
addition  the  countless  centuries  during  which  the  bow 
and  arrow  held  its  sway,  the  millions  of  men  who  have 
used  it,  and  the  important  effect  it  has  had  in  the 
overcoming  of  wild  beasts,  and  the  deciding  of  many 
of  the  critical  battles  of  the  world,  he  can  hardly  escape 
the  conclusion  that  the  invention  of  the  bow  and  arrow 
was  one  of  the  most  important  occurrences  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind. 

A  still  more  important  occurrence  was  the  invention 
of  making  fire.  Probably  less  inventive  effort  was 
needed  for  this  than  for  the  bow  and  arrow;  for  fire 
could  be  seen  in  the  lightning  and  in  trees  struck  by 
lightning,  and  in  the  sparks  that  came  forth  when  two 
hard  stones  were  struck  together.  The  discovery  of 
fire  may  have  been  made  by  accident;  but  this  does  not 
mean  that  no  invention  was  needed  for  devising  and 
producing  the  means  whereby  fire  could  be  produced 
at  will.  To  note  the  fact  of  a  phenomenon,  say  the 
production  of  fire  when  stones  are  accidentally  struck 
together,  or  the  falling  of  an  apple  from  a  tree,  re- 
quires no  special  effort,  and  of  itself  brings  forth  no 
benefit;  but  to  reason  from  the  appearance  of  the 
sparks  to  the  production  of  an  apparatus  for  making 


6  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

fire  at  will;  or  to  reason  from  the  falling  of  an  apple 
to  the  enunciation  of  Newton's  Law  of  Gravitation,  is 
the  kind  of  successful  mental  effort  that  has  produced 
the  effects  which  it  is  the  endeavor  of  this  humble  book 
to  indicate.  These  effects  have  combined  as  progress 
has  advanced,  to  put  civilized  man  in  a  position  rela- 
tively to  his  natural  surroundings  very  different  from 
that  held  by  primeval  man,  and  very  different  from 
that  held  by  the  brutes,  both  in  primeval  days  and  now. 
Evidently,  the  effects  have  been  made  possible  by  some 
faculty  possessed  by  man  and  not  by  brutes.  This  fac- 
ulty is  usually  called  reason,  and  is  held  to  be  a  faculty 
by  means  of  which  man  can  infer  cause  from  effect,  and 
effect  from  cause,  and  can  remember  events  and  facts 
to  a  degree  sufficient  to  enable  him  to  hold  them  in 
his  mind,  while  reasoning  about  them. 

But  it  seems  impossible  to  explain  the  advent  of  even 
the  oldest  and  simplest  inventions  by  the  possession  of 
reason  only,  using  the  word  reason  in  its  ordinary 
sense;  for  it  is  obvious  that  no  matter  how  clearly  a 
man  could  reason  as  between  cause  and  effect,  no  matter 
how  great  a  student  of  all  phenomena  he  might  be,  no 
matter  how  good  a  memory  he  might  have,  he  might 
nevertheless  live  for  many  years  and  never  invent  any- 
thing. In  fact,  we  see  men  at  the  present  day  who 
possess  great  knowledge,  splendid  energy,  keen  powers 
of  analysis,  high  courage,  and  even  great  administra- 
tive talent,  and  yet  who  are  obviously  deficient  in  origi- 
nality, who  seem  to  possess  the  constructive  faculty  in 
only  a  small  degree,  and  who  seem  incapable  of  taking 
any  step  forward  except  on  paths  that  have  been  plainly 
trod  before. 

Countless  instances  can  be  cited  of  the  persistence  of 
men,  even  in  civilized  lands,  in  following  a  certain  prac- 
tice for  long  periods,  until  someone  possessing  the 
inventive  faculty  has  devised  a  better  one.  For  the 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES  7 

sake  of  brevity,  only  two  cases,  and  those  well  known, 
will  be  mentioned  as  illustrative.  One  was  the  inven- 
tion of  movable  type,  and  the  other  that  of  pointing 
the  wood  screw.  Man  had  continued  for  centuries  to 
make  blocks  of  wood  or  other  material  on  which  words 
and  phrases  were  engraved  or  cut,  and  then  to  print 
from  them.  Suddenly  a  man  in  Germany  (usually  said 
to  be  John  Guttenberg)  made  the  change,  so  slight  in 
appearance  and  yet  so  tremendous  in  results,  of  cut- 
ting only  one  letter  on  a  block,  and  arranging  and 
securing  the  blocks  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  him  to 
print  any  word  or  words  desired.  This  did  not  occur 
until  about  the  year  1434  A.  D.  Why  had  not  some- 
one done  this  in  all  the  long  centuries?  Surely  it  was 
not  because  men  of  great  reasoning  faculties  had  not 
lived;  for  in  the  long  interval  the  civilization  of  Egypt, 
Assyria,  Babylon,  Persia,  Greece  and  Rome  had  flour- 
ished; and  Plato,  Aristotle,  Caesar  and  the  great  in- 
ventor Archimedes  had  lived!  Similarly,  men  con- 
tinued to  use  in  wood  the  same  flat  pointed  screw  that 
they  used  in  metals,  boring  the  hole  first  in  the  wood 
with  a  gimlet,  and  then  entering  the  flat  point  of  the 
screw  into  the  hole.  Suddenly  (but  not  until  the  nine- 
teenth century  A.  D.)  an  inventor  made  and  patented 
a  screw  which  came  to  a  sharp  point  like  a  gimlet, 
which  could  be  forced  into  wood  just  as  the  gimlet  was, 
and  then  screwed  into  the  wood  without  further  ado. 
How  can  we  explain  the  curious  fact  that  countless  men 
of  reason,  intelligence  and  mechanical  skill  had  con- 
tinued century  after  century  to  bore  into  wood  with 
gimlets,  and  then  follow  the  gimlet  with  flat-pointed 
screws? 

The  explanation  seems  to  be  expressed  in  the  phrase, 
"the  idea  had  not  occurred  to  them."  Why  had  it  not 
occurred  to  them?  This  question  cannot,  of  course, 
be  answered  convincingly;  but  it  may  be  pointed  out 


8  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

that  there  is  a  small  class  of  men  to  whom  original 
ideas  seem  to  come  of  their  own  accord.  The  inventor 
of  mechanical  appliances  is  in  this  class,  and  is  perhaps 
its  most  conspicuous  exemplar. 

It  may  be  pointed  out,  however,  that  the  inventors 
of  mechanical  appliances  are  not  the  only  men  to  whom 
original  conceptions  come ;  for  original  conceptions  evi- 
dently come  to  the  poets,  the  novelists,  the  musical  com- 
posers, the  artists,  the  strategists,  the  explorers,  the 
statesmen,  the  philosophers,  the  founders  of  religions 
and  the  initiators  of  all  enterprises  great  and  small.  It 
may  be  pointed  out  also  that  their  mental  processes  are 
similar,  and  that  they  are  best  described  by  the  greatest 
of  all  poets  in  the  lines — 

"The  poet's  eye  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling, 
Glances  from  heaven  to  earth,  from  earth  to  heaven; 
And  as  imagination  bodies  forth 
The  forms  of  things  unknown,  the  poet's  pen 
Turns  them  to  shapes,  and  gives  to  airy  nothing 
A  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

These  lines  suggest  that  the  first  step  in  invention  is 
made  almost  without  effort;  that  a  picture,  confused  and 
dim  but  actual,  is  made  by  the  imagination  on  the  men- 
tal retina;  and  that,  after  that,  the  constructive  facul- 
ties arrange  the  elements  of  the  picture  in  such  wise 
as  to  produce  a  clear  and  definite  entity. 

Regarded  in  this  way,  the  inventor  of  mechanical 
appliances  suddenly  sees  a  confused  and  dim  picture 
of  an  instrument  or  a  mechanism  (or  a  part  of  it)  that 
he  has  never  seen  with  his  bodily  eyes;  the  musical 
composer  hears  imperfectly  and  vaguely  a  new  musical 
composition;  the  sculptor  sees  a  statue,  the  painter  sees 
a  new  combination  of  objects  and  colors  producing  a 
new  effect,  and  the  poet  feels  the  stirring  in  him  of 
vague,  but  beautiful,  or  powerful  or  inspiring  thoughts. 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES  9 

If  now  the  picture  is  allowed  to  fade,  or  if  the  con- 
structive faculty  is  not  able  to  make  it  into  an  actuality, 
or  if  the  picture  has  not  in  itself  the  elements  which 
the  state  of  civilization  then  prevailing  make  it  possible 
to  embody  in  an  entity,  no  invention  of  a  mechanical 
appliance  is  made,  no  plan  of  campaign,  no  musical 
composition,  no  statue,  no  painting,  no  poem  is 
produced. 

If,  however,  the  constructive  effort  develops  suc- 
cessfully the  conception  that  the  imagination  made,  and 
if  the  circumstances  of  time  and  place  are  all  propitious, 
then  the  art  of  making  fire  at  will  is  born,  or  Bona- 
parte's suggestion  at  Toulon  is  made,  or  the  strains 
of  Beethoven's  music  inspire  the  world,  or  the  statue 
of  Moses  is  carved,  or  the  Immaculate  Conception  is 
pointed,  or  Hamlet  is  written,  or  the  electric  telegraph 
binds  the  peoples  of  the  earth  together. 

The  inventor  in  mechanics,  the  sculptor,  the  painter, 
the  novelist  and  the  poet  embody  their  creations  in  ma- 
terial forms  that  are  enduring  and  definite,  and  con- 
stitute evidences  of  their  work,  which  sometimes  en- 
dure throughout  long  periods.  The  architect  and  the 
constructing  engineer  are  able  similarly  to  produce  last- 
ing and  useful  monuments  to  their  skill;  but  it  can 
hardly  be  declared  that  their  work  is  characterized  by 
quite  so  much  of  originality  and  invention,  because  of 
the  restrictions  by  which  the  practice  of  their  arts  is 
bound.  It  is,  in  fact,  hard  to  conceive  of  a  bridge  very 
different  in  principle  or  design  from  bridges  that  had 
been  built  before;  and  while  it  is  not  difficult  to  con- 
ceive of  an  engine  different  in  principle  and  design  from 
previous  ones,  yet  we  realize  that  the  points  of  novelty 
in  such  an  engine  would  be  attributable  more  to  inven- 
tion than  to  engineering.  This  is  because  the  arts  of 
engineering  and  architecture  rest  on  principles  that 
have  long  since  been  proved  to  be  correct,  and  on  prac- 


10  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

tices  that  are  the  results  of  long  experience;  whereas 
one  of  the  main  characteristics  of  invention  is  novelty. 

It  is  true  that  many  of  the  most  important  inventions 
have  been  made  by  engineers;  but  this  has  been  because 
some  engineers,  like  Ericsson,  have  been  inventors  also. 
But  it  is  also  true  that  only  a  small  proportion  of  the 
engineers  have  made  original  inventions;  and  it  is 
equally  true  that  many  inventions  have  failed — or  have 
been  slow  in  achieving  success — because  of  lack  of  en- 
gineering skill  in  construction  or  design.  These  facts 
show  that  the  work  of  the  inventor  is  very  different 
from  that  of  the  engineer,  and  that  the  inventor  and 
the  engineer  are  very  different  people,  though  an  engi- 
neer and  an  inventor  sometimes  live  together  inside  of 
the  same  skin.  In  fact,  it  is  by  a  combination  of  in- 
ventive genius  and  engineering  talent  in  one  man  that 
the  greatest  results  in  invention  have  been  achieved; 
though  great  results  have  often  followed  the  intimate 
cooperation  of  an  inventor  and  an  engineer,  the  two 
being  separate  men. 

It  is  in  the  latter  way  that  important  advances  have 
usually  been  made;  and  it  is  somewhat  analogous  to 
the  way  in  which  authors  and  publishers,  actors  and 
managers,  promoters  and  capitalists  cooperate. 

But  while  the  individuals  whose  inventions  have 
taken  the  form  of  new  creations,  such  as  novel  ma- 
chines and  books  and  paintings,  have  received  the 
clearest  recognition  as  men  of  genius,  may  not  the  in- 
ventive faculty  be  needed  in  other  fields  and  be  re- 
quired in  other  kinds  of  work?  If  an  instrument  is 
produced  by  the  joint  exercise  of  imagination  and  con- 
structive talent,  is  not  every  puzzle  worked  out,  and 
every  problem  solved,  and  every  constructive  work 
accomplished  by  the  similar  exercise  of  those  same 
faculties  ? 

It  may  seem  obvious  that  this  question  should  be  an- 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          11 

swered  in  the  negative,  and  so  it  unquestionably  should 
be.  But  there  always  has  been  much  cloudiness  as 
to  what  constitutes  invention  in  our  own  minds;  and 
it  must  be  admitted  that  the  dividing  line  is  not  imme- 
diately obvious  between  invention  and  the  art  of  meet- 
ing difficulties  with  resourcefulness,  or  between  inven- 
tion and  the  act  of  solving  any  of  the  perplexing  riddles 
of  our  daily  lives. 

It  may  be  declared  with  confidence,  however,  that  the 
difference  between  invention  and  any  one  of  these  other 
acts  is  that,  while  invention  ends  in  performing  such 
acts,  it  begins  with  an  exercise  of  the  imagination.  A 
man  who  designs  an  engine  to  fulfil  a  stated  purpose, 
who  solves  any  problem  whatever  that  is  presented  to 
him  from  outside,  simply  accomplishes  a  task  that  is 
given  to  him  to  accomplish;  whereas,  while  the  in- 
ventor accomplishes  a  similar  task,  he  does  it  as  a 
second  step  in  a  task  that  was  not  given  him  to 
accomplish,  but  that  he  himself  had  pictured  to  him- 
self. The  act  of  inventing  consists  of  three  separate 
acts — the  act  of  conceiving,  the  act  of  developing,  and 
the  act  of  producing.  Of  these  three  acts,  that  of  con- 
ceiving is  obviously  not  only  the  first,  but  also  the  most 
important,  distinctive  and  unusual. 

For  every  real  invention,  there  have  been  countless 
constructive  acts.  In  the  invention  of  the  bow  and 
arrow,  the  conception  was  probably  instantaneous  and 
unbidden.  The  subsequent  work  of  developing  the  con- 
ception into  material  and  practical  shape  was  probably 
one  of  long  duration,  consisting  of  many  acts,  accom- 
panied with  many  difficulties  and  disappointments,  and 
accomplished  finally  in  the  face  of  much  active  and 
passive  opposition. 

The  Old  Stone  Age  gradually  developed  into  the 
New  Stone  Age  at  different  times  in  different  localities, 


12  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

as  successive  improvements  in  implements  were  made. 
The  New  Stone  Age  was  distinguished  from  its  prede- 
cessor mainly  by  the  fact  that  the  principal  weapons 
and  utensils  were  formed  into  regular  shapes,  polished 
into  smoothness,  and  in  many  cases  ground  to  sharp 
points  and  keen  cutting  edges.  These  improvements 
made  the  implements  more  effective  both  as  weapons 
and  as  utensils,  by  facilitating  not  only  cutting  but 
penetration. 

How  much  invention  was  needed  to  make  these  im- 
provements, it  is  not  easy  to  decide ;  but  probably  only 
a  little  was  required,  and  that  of  an  order  not  very 
original  or  high;  for  the  improvements  were  rather  in 
detail  than  principle.  Perhaps  their  character  can  be 
best  indicated  by  saying  that  they  were  improvements, 
rather  than  inventions  of  a  basic  kind. 

It  may  here  be  pointed  out  that  the  act  of  improving 
upon  an  invention  already  existing  may  be  almost 
wholly  a  constructive  act,  performed  on  a  visible  and 
tangible  material  object,  and  not  on  a  picture  made  by 
the  imagination  on  the  mind.  In  such  a  case,  the  act  of 
improving  belongs  rather  in  the  category  of  engineer- 
ing than  of  invention,  for  the  reason  that  it  involves 
only  a  slight  use  of  the  imagination.  It  may  also  be 
pointed  out,  however,  that  a  mere  improvement  may 
be,  and  sometimes  has  been  an  invention  of  the  highest 
order.  As  a  rule,  of  course,  basic  inventions  have  been 
the  most  brilliant  and  also  the  most  important. 

But  it  was  not  only  by  polished  instruments  of  stone 
and  bone  that  the  New  Stone  Age  was  characterized; 
for  we  find  in  the  records  which  our  ancestors  uninten- 
tionally left  us,  many  evidences  that  they  had  invented 
the  arts  of  making  pottery,  of  spinning  and  weaving, 
and  of  constructing  houses  of  a  simple  kind.  This  Age 
was  characterized  by  many  improvements  besides  those 
relating  to  articles  of  stone,  and  was  a  period  far  in 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          13 

advance  of  its  predecessor  on  the  march  to  civilization. 
It  was  marked  by  the  domestication  of  animals  and 
plants,  the  tilling  of  the  soil,  and  a  gradual  change 
from  a  purely  savage  and  nomadic  mode  of  life.  This 
change  was  first  to  a  pastoral  life,  in  which  men  lived 
in  fixed  habitations  and  tended  their  flocks;  thence  to 
an  agricultural  life,  in  which  men  cultivated  the  ground 
over  large  areas  and  grew  crops  of  cereals  and  veget- 
ables; and  then  to  a  still  more  settled  existence,  in  which 
men  congregated  in  villages  and  towns.  Certainly,  the 
race  had  taken  the  first  steps,  and  had  started  on  the 
path  which  it  has  since  pursued. 

In  order  to  make  the  start  and  to  proceed  after- 
wards in  the  line  begun,  many  physical,  mental  and 
spiritual  attributes  were  needed  and  employed,  that 
mere  brutes  did  not  possess,  and  because  of  which  the 
civilization  of  the  Old  Stone  Age  had  been  begun  and 
gradually  developed.  Of  these  faculties,  those  princi- 
pally characteristic  seem  to  have  been  mental;  and 
among  those  faculties,  invention,  reason,  construction 
and  memory  seem  to  have  been  the  most  important. 
It  would  be  unreasonable  to  declare  any  one  of  those 
faculties  to  have  been  more  important  than  the  others; 
but  it  can  hardly  be  denied  that  the  first  steps  in  the 
march  of  progress  should  be  credited  to  invention. 
Clearly,  it  was  the  weapons  and  utensils  of  the  Old 
Stone  Age  that  made  possible  the  subduing  and  subse- 
quent domestication  of  certain  animals,  such  as  the 
horse,  the  cow,  the  dog,  the  sheep  and  the  goat. 

It  may  be  pointed  out,  in  passing,  that  many  animals 
have  not  been  domesticated  even  at  this  late  day — such 
as  the  tiger,  the  eagle  and  the  bear.  But,  equally,  cer- 
tain tribes  of  men  have  not  been  domesticated.  It  may 
be  that  in  both  the  undomesticated  men  and  the  undo- 
mesticated  brutes,  the  mind  is  of  such  a  character  that 
it  cannot  assimilate  even  the  first  grains  of  knowledge, 


14  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

or  make  any  effort  whatever  of  an  inventive  character. 

There  was  one  invention  that  was  probably  made  in 
the  Old  Stone  Age,  which  must  have  needed  consider- 
able inventiveness  to  be  developed  as  highly  as  it  was 
developed  during  the  Old  and  New  Stone  Ages,  and 
that  was  language.  The  origin  of  language  is,  of 
course,  hidden  in  the  impenetrable  mystery  of  the 
childhood  of  the  race ;  and  it  may  be  that  language  was 
an  original  attribute  of  man.  If  we  reason,  however, 
that  the  development  of  language  must  have  been  a 
continuing  act  from  the  first,  inferring  it  from  the 
fact  that  it  has  been  a  continuing  act  from  the  dawn 
of  recorded  history  until  now,  and  if  we  suppose  that 
it  had  a  rise  and  a  growth  like  those  of  other  arts,  we 
may  reasonably  conclude  that  some  man  invented  the 
plan  of  making  his  wants  known  by  the  use  of  vocal 
sounds,  uttered  in  accordance  with  a  preconcerted  code ; 
that  the  invention  was  only  partially  successful  at  first, 
and  that  it  was  afterwards  improved.  That  language 
was  not  a  natural  gift,  but  rather  the  result  of  an  in- 
vention and  subsequent  development,  is  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  a  child  has  to  be  taught  to  speak,  but  does 
not  have  to  be  taught  to  exercise  his  natural  functions, 
such  as  breathing,  eating,  drinking,  walking,  etc. 

Which  was  the  first  invention  ever  made  by  man, 
there  is,  of  course,  no  means  of  ascertaining;  but  it 
seems  obvious  that  that  of  language  must  have  been 
among  the  first.  The  invention  of  weapons  we  may 
easily  imagine  to  have  been  actually  the  first,  called  for 
by  the  necessity  of  defense  against  wild  beasts  and 
other  men.  Following  the  defense  by  individual  men 
of  their  individual  lives,  it  seems  logical  to  suppose  that 
a  man  and  his  wife,  a  man  and  his  brother,  and  then 
groups  of  men,  banded  together  in  their  common  de- 
fense against  common  foes.  To  further  their  joint 
action,  what  would  be  more  valuable  than  a  language 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL  TIMES          15 

consisting  of  vocal  sounds,  arranged  in  accordance  with 
a  simple  code,  as  a  means  of  conveying  information, 
issuing  warnings,  and  giving  signals  in  emergencies,  to 
insure  concerted  action? 

That  language  should  later  be  used  for  manifold 
other  purposes  would  be  most  natural;  for  many  other 
arts  have  been  invented  primarily  to  further  man's  first 
aim,  the  preservation  of  his  life,  and  have  afterwards 
been  employed  for  other  purposes.  The  uses  of  cloth- 
ing, houses,  knives,  guns  and  of  nearly  all  weapons  are 
cases  in  point. 

The  New  Stone  Age  seems  to  have  passed  gradually 
into  the  Age  of  Copper,  because  doubtless  of  a  more  or 
less  accidental  discovery  when  native  copper  was  seen 
upon  the  ground,  or  when  some  copper  ore  was  sub- 
jected to  fire.  The  metal,  by  reason  of  its  great  dura- 
bility, ductility,  elasticity  and  strength,  came  £o  be  used 
for  many  purposes — the  first  use  being  probably  in 
weapons;  for  weapons  were  the  main  dependence  of 
the  people  in  their  struggle  against  beasts. 

A  great  advance  was  made  when  bronze  was  dis- 
covered, with  which  weapons  and  tools  of  many  kinds 
could  be  made  that  were  harder  than  those  of  copper. 
Then  the  Age  of  Bronze  succeeded  the  Age  of  Copper. 
One  can  hardly  imagine  that  bronze  was  really  invented; 
for  it  is  difficult  to  see  how,  knowing  the  softness  of 
copper  and  tin,  any  primeval  man  could  have  imagined 
a  metal  made  from  them  much  harder  than  either,  and 
then  proceeded  to  make  it  by  mixing  about  seven  parts 
of  copper  with  one  part  of  tin.  The  gradual  improve- 
ment made  in  bronze  implements,  and  the  different 
kinds  of  bronze  that  later  appeared  (made  by  alter- 
ing the  proportions  of  tin  and  copper)  were  doubtless 
due  more  to  constructive  and  engineering  methods  than 
to  pure  invention;  but  nevertheless  a  considerable 
amount  of  inventing  must  have  been  required;  for  one 


16  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

can  rarely  effect  any  important  improvement  in  any 
weapon,  instrument  or  tool,  without  first  imagining  the 
improvement,  and  then  endeavoring  to  effect  it. 

In  fact,  an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  "inven- 
tions"  for  which  patents  are  issued  by  our  Patent  Office, 
are  for  mere  improvements  over  existing  apparatus; 
and  the  bald  fact  that  the  thing  accomplished  is  only 
such  an  improvement,  instead  of  the  creation  of  some- 
thing different  from  everything  else  whatever,  like  the 
telephone  or  phonograph,  does  not  debar  the  achieve- 
ment from  being  classed  as  an  invention.  The  pointed 
screw  was  merely  an  improvement  over  previous  forms 
of  screw,  and  yet  it  was  an  invention  of  high  originality, 
novelty  and  importance.  Obviously,  improvements 
occupy  various  positions  not  only  in  importance  and 
scope,  but  also  in  the  relative  degrees  in  which  inven- 
tion and  construction  were  employed  to  bring  them  into 
being. 

It  is  held  by  some  that  no  purely  human  act  can 
possibly  create  anything  really  new,  that  "there  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  and  that  therefore  every 
so-called  invention  made  by  a  man  must  be  merely  a 
novel  arrangement  of  already  existing  objects. 

Of  course,  no  man  "creates"  anything,  in  the  sense 
that  he  makes  anything  whatever  out  of  nothing;  but 
it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  he  has  created  many  things 
in  the  sense  that  he  has  made  many  entities  to  exist  that 
had  not  existed  before  as  such  entities;  for  instance, 
man  made  the  speaking  telephone  to  exist.  The  speak- 
ing telephone  did  not  exist  before  Bell  invented  it,  and 
it  did  exist  after  he  invented  it.  To  say  that  Bell  did 
or  did  not  create  the  telephone  conveys  a  meaning 
dependent  wholly  on  the  meaning  in  which  the  word 
"create"  is  used.  Men  ordinarily  use  the  word  with 
such  a  meaning  that  it  is  correct  to  say  that  Bell 
created  the  speaking  telephone;  it  being  understood  as 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          17 

a  matter  of  common  sense  that  Bell  did  not  create  the 
metals  and  other  material  parts  which  he  put  together 
to  make  the  telephone. 

Used  in  this  sense,  primeval  man  (or  more  correctly 
some  primeval  men,  and  probably  a  very  few)  created 
certain  weapons,  implements  and  utensils,  that  gave  the 
men  who  used  them  such  mastery  over  wild  beasts  and 
over  men  who  did  not  use  them,  that  the  steps  since 
taken  toward  civilization  were  made  possible. 

Our  whole  civilization  can  be  traced  back  to  those 
inventions,  and  can  be  shown  to  proceed  from  them 
and  be  based  upon  them.  No  other  basis  that  civiliza- 
tion could  have  proceeded  from  can  even  be  imagined; 
for  the  actual  progress  of  events  was  the  outcome  of 
the  actual  nature  of  man,  and  the  actual  nature  of  his 
environment. 

We  seem  forced  to  conclude,  therefore,  that  we  owe 
our  civilization  primarily  to  the  invention  of  certain 
primeval  implements  and  weapons,  the  art  of  making 
fire,  etc.,  and  therefore  to  the  inventors  who  made  the 
inventions.  This  does  not  mean  that  we  do  not  owe  it 
to  other  things  besides  inventions,  and  to  other  men 
besides  inventors;  for  it  is  obvious  that  we  owe  it  to  all 
the  facts  of  our  history,  and  to  such  of  our  ancestors  as 
did  anything  to  advance  it.  We  owe  it  in  part,  for 
instance,  to  the  men  who  framed  the  laws  that  made 
living  in  villages  and  cities  possible,  to  the  men  who 
executed  the  laws,  and  to  all  the  men  and  women  who 
observed  the  laws  and  gave  examples  of  righteous  liv- 
ing. For  it  is  obvious  that,  no  matter  what  inventions 
were  made,  the  march  of  civilization  could  not  have 
even  started,  unless  there  had  been  a  sufficient  number 
of  good  and  intelligent  men  and  women  to  keep  the 
human  procession  in  good  order  from  the  first. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that,  although  every 
human  being  has  much  of  evil  in  his  nature,  yet  even 


18  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

the  most  depraved  person  desires  other  people  to  be 
good.  Even  thieves  see  the  advantage  to  themselves 
resulting  from  the  fact  that  most  men  do  not  steal; 
murderers  have  no  inclination  toward  being  themselves 
murdered,  and  human  beings  as  a  class  see  the  benefits 
of  morality  and  good  living  throughout  society  as  a 
whole.  For  this  reason,  and  for  the  still  more  impor- 
tant reason  that  most  individuals  are  not  very  different 
in  their  characteristics  and  abilities  from  the  average 
of  all  individuals,  the  tendency  of  society  is  to  reduce 
men  to  a  common  level;  so  that  we  see  only  a  small 
fraction  who  are  extremely  good  or  extremely  bad,  ex- 
tremely brilliant  or  extremely  stupid,  extremely  large 
or  extremely  small,  etc.  Similarly,  there  is  only  a  small 
fraction  of  the  people  who  have  done  much  good  in- 
dividually or  much  harm,  or  who  have  exercised 
individually  any  noticeable  influence  of  any  kind. 

We  may  reasonably  conclude,  therefore,  that  there 
were  only  a  few  men  in  primeval  days  who  performed 
any  acts  that  entitle  them  to  individual  recognition ;  and 
as  the  only  records  that  have  come  down  to  us  indicate 
that  the  most  important  acts  were  the  inventing  of  cer- 
tain implements,  we  seem  forced  to  conclude  that  most 
of  the  recognition  accorded  to  individuals  of  primeval 
days  may  be  limited  to  a  very  small  number,  and  they 
inventors. 

Who  they  were,  and  where  and  when  they  lived,  is 
not  known  and  probably  never  will  be.  For  countless 
centuries  their  names  and  personalities  have  been  for- 
gotten as  wholly  as  those  of  many  beasts.  But  maybe 
other  achievements  like  those  that  have  exposed  the 
history  of  certain  Oriental  kings  and  wise  men  to  our 
knowledge,  will  some  day  tell  us  who  were  the  inven- 
tors who  started  the  march  of  human  progress,  and 
pointed  out  the  road  that  it  should  follow. 

Yet,  if  we  infer  the  probable  conditions  of  the  re- 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          19 

mote  past  from  the  conditions  of  the  present  and  recent 
past,  we  shall  have  to  conclude  that,  while  the  names 
and  deeds  of  prehistoric  rulers  may  some  day  become 
known  to  us,  and  even  the  names  of  authors,  poets  and 
song  singers,  the  names  of  the  original  inventors  will 
be  forever  hid.  For  inventors  have  ever  been  depre- 
ciated in  their  day;  even  at  the  present  time,  despite 
the  known  facts  as  to  what  inventions  and  inventors 
have  done  for  every  one  of  us,  the  inventor  as  an  in- 
ventor is  lightly  regarded,  and  so  are  his  inventions. 
So  are  his  inventions  until  they  have  ceased  to  be  re- 
garded as  inventions,  and  have  been  accepted  as  con- 
stituent parts  of  the  machine  of  civilization.  By  that 
time  the  inventor  has  often  been  forgotten. 

The  Age  of  Iron  succeeded  the  Age  of  Bronze  in 
the  countries  from  which  we  have  inherited  our  civili- 
zation; but  in  Africa  bronze  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  discovered  until  after  iron  was.  Iron  being  an 
element  like  copper,  and  not  an  alloy  of  two  metals  like 
bronze,  it  seems  probable  that  its  discovery,  like  that 
of  copper,  followed  the  act  of  heating  stones  with  fire. 
The  coming  of  iron  seems  due  therefore  to  discovery 
rather  than  to  invention;  but  yet  the  mere  discovery 
that  a  very  hard  substance  had  been  accidentally  pro- 
duced would  of  itself  have  brought  forth  no  fruit.  One 
is  almost  forced  to  infer  from  probability  that  the 
fact  must  have  become  known  to  many  men,  but  only 
as  a  plain  and  uninteresting  fact.  Finally,  some  man 
realized  that  that  hard  substance  was  superior  to 
bronze  for  making  weapons,  and  then  set  to  work  to 
ascertain  exactly  what  kinds  of  stone  it  could  be  gotten 
from,  and  exactly  what  process  gave  the  best  results. 

To  us  who  have  been  carefully  taught  the  facts 
known  at  the  present  day,  and  whose  minds  have  been 
trained  by  logic  and  mathematics  to  reason  from  effect 
to  cause,  and  to  construct  frameworks  of  cause  where- 


20  INVENTION.   THE   MASTER-KEY 

from  to  gain  effects,  it  seems  that  anyone  who  noted 
that  the  hard  substance  which  we  call  iron  came  from 
heating  certain  stones,  would  immediately  invent  a 
process  for  making  iron  in  quantities.  But  prehistoric 
man  had  no  knowledge  whatever  save  that  coming 
from  his  own  observation  and  the  oral  teachings  of  the 
wise  men;  mathematics  and  logic  did  not  exist;  and  the 
only  training  given  him  was  in  those  simple  arts  of 
hunting,  fishing,  field  tilling,  etc.,  by  which  he  earned 
his  livelihood.  For  a  mind  so  untrained  and  ignorant 
to  leap  from  the  simple  noting  of  the  accidental  pro- 
duction of  the  metal  to  a  realization  of  its  value,  then 
to  a  correct  inference  as  to  the  possibility  of  producing 
it  at  will,  then  to  a  correct  inference  as  to  the  method 
of  producing  it,  and  then  to  devising  the  method  and 
actually  producing  iron  at  will,  suggests  a  reasoning 
intelligence  of  an  order  exceedingly  high. 

Nevertheless,  the  art  of  making  iron  may  have  origi- 
nated not  so  much  from  effort  as  from  inspiration ;  the 
process  may  have  been  less  one  of  reasoning  than  one 
of  imagination,  less  one  of  construction  than  one  of 
invention.  In  fact,  when  we  realize  that  imagination 
is  almost  wholly  a  pure  gift  (like  beauty,  or  artistic 
genius  or  a  singing  voice)  while  the  reasoning  and 
constructive  faculties  require  long  education,  we  may 
reasonably  conclude  that  the  production  of  iron  and 
of  all  the  metals  and  processes  in  prehistoric  times, 
was  probably  attributable  mainly  to  invention. 

The  crowning  invention  of  prehistoric  man  was  that 
of  writing;  for  it  lifted  him  out  of  his  dependence  on 
oral  teachings,  with  their  liability  to  error  and  forget- 
fulness,  into  a  condition  in  which  the  facts  and  expe- 
riences of  life,  and  the  reasons  for  failure  or  success, 
could  be  put  into  permanent  form,  and  supply  sure 
bases  from  which  to  start  on  any  line  of  progress  in 
the  future. 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          21 

The  production  of  the  art  of  writing  seems  to  have 
been  a  pure  invention,  and  it  has  always  been  so  re- 
garded. Nothing  resembling  writing  is  to  be  found 
in  nature;  nowhere  do  we  see  in  nature  any  effort  to 
preserve  any  records  of  any  kind.  How  man,  or  a 
man,  was  led  to  invent  writing  we  can  only  imagine, 
for  we  cannot  ascertain.  When  we  realize,  however, 
how  entirely  novel  an  undertaking  the  production  of 
writing  was,  and  that  there  is  no  process  of  mere  rea- 
soning by  which  a  man  could  arrive  at  a  decision  to 
produce  it,  we  seem  forced  to  conclude  that  it  must 
have  been  caused  by  one  of  those  inexplicable  concep- 
tions that  imagination  puts  into  the  mind,  and  that  con- 
stitute an  inspiration,  coming  from  the  Great  Outside 
and  its  ruler,  the  Almighty. 

In  fact,  if  one  ponders  the  history  and  teachings  of 
the  Christian  religion  (in  truth  of  all  religions),  and 
notes  that  the  revelations  on  which  they  are  believed 
to  have  been  founded  seem  to  have  come  unbidden 
to  certain  men  as  inspirations  from  On  High,  he  must 
realize  how  similar  are  the  conceptions  that  come  to 
inventors  in  a  field  less  spiritual,  but  yet  actual.  For 
in  the  case  of  each  basic  invention,  an  idea  seems  to 
have  come  unbidden  to  the  mind,  and  grown  and 
developed  there. 

The  first  writing  was  what  we  call  picture  writing, 
in  which  representations  in  outline  of  well-known  ob- 
jects were  scratched  with  a  hard  point  on  some  softer 
substance.  This  form  of  writing  probably  began  in 
the  Old  Stone  Age.  It  continued  for  different  lengths 
of  time  among  different  peoples,  as  have  all  other 
characteristics  of  any  stage  of  civilization;  and  it  is 
practiced  in  some  degree  by  some  peoples  even  now. 
In  fact,  one  might  with  reasonableness  declare  that 
many  of  the  illustrations  used  in  books  and  magazines 
and  papers,  many  of  the  paintings  and  drawings  that 


22  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

adorn  our  walls,  and  many  of  the  moving  pictures  in  our 
places  of  amusement  convey  messages  by  means  of  pic- 
tures, and  are  therefore  forms  of  picture  writing. 

As  the  intelligence  of  man  increased,  and  his  conse- 
quent need  for  better  means  of  expressing  himself  in 
writing  increased,  the  idea  occurred  to  someone  to  use 
conventional  drawings  to  represent  vocal  sounds,  in- 
stead of  pictures  of  visible  objects.  The  first  writing 
of  this  kind,  called  phonetic  writing,  used  characters 
that  represented  spoken  words,  and  therefore  required 
many  characters  and  necessitated  long  and  tedious 
study  to  master  it.  It  was  gradually  replaced  among 
most  peoples  by  an  improved  phonetic  system,  in  which 
each  character  represented  a  syllable  instead  of  a 
word;  though  the  Chinese  have  never  wholly  aban- 
doned it.  The  syllabic  system  needed,  of  course,  fewer 
characters,  and  was  much  more  easily  learned,  much 
more  flexible  and  generally  satisfactory.  The  syllabic 
system  was  finally  replaced  among  the  more  progres- 
sive peoples  by  the  alphabetical  system,  in  which  each 
character  represents  a  separate  vocal  sound.  As  the 
number  of  separate  vocal  sounds  is  few,  only  a  few 
characters  are  needed.  In  most  alphabets,  the  num- 
ber of  characters  varies  between  twenty-two  and 
thirty-six. 

We  of  the  present  day  plume  ourselves  greatly  on  our 
achievements  in  invention,  and  point  to  the  tens  of 
thousands  of  scientific  appliances,  books  and  works  of 
art  with  which  we  have  enriched  our  civilization.  To 
most  of  us,  prehistoric  man  was  an  uncouth  creature, 
living  in  caves  and  uncleanly  huts,  and  so  far  removed 
from  us  that  in  our  hearts  we  class  him  as  little  higher 
than  the  beasts.  Yet  to  prehistoric  man  we  owe  all 
that  we  are  and  all  that  we  have.  The  gift  of  life 
itself  came  to  us  through  him ;  and  so  did  not  only  our 
physical  faculties,  but  our  mental,  moral  and  spiritual 


INVENTION    IN    PRIMEVAL   TIMES          23 

faculties  as  well.  It  was  prehistoric  man  who  invented 
the  appliances  without  which  the  wild  beasts  would  not 
have  been  overcome,  and  the  man,  wilder  than  himself, 
been  kept  at  bay;  by  means  of  which  the  soil  was  tilled, 
and  boats  were  made  to  move  upon  the  water,  and  vil- 
lages and  towns  were  built.  It  was  prehistoric  man 
who  invented  spoken  language  and  the  arts  of  drawing, 
painting,  architecture,  weaving  and  writing.  It  was  pre- 
historic man  who  started  the  race  on  its  forward  march, 
and  pointed  it  in  the  direction  in  which  it  has  ever  since 
advanced.  It  was  prehistoric  man  who  made  the  in- 
ventions on  which  all  succeeding  inventions  have  been 
based.  The  prehistoric  inventor  exercised  an  influence 
on  progress  greater  than  that  of  any  other  man. 


CHAPTER    II 

INVENTION    IN   THE   ORIENT 

'  I  XHE  first  countries  to  pass  into  the  stage  of  re- 
-•*  corded  history  were  Egypt  and  Babylonia.  Ex- 
cavations made  near  the  sites  of  their  ancient  cities 
have  brought  to  light  many  inscriptions  which,  being 
deciphered  and  translated,  give  us  clear  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  under  which  they  lived,  and  therefore 
of  the  degree  of  the  civilization  that  they  had  attained. 

As  we  note  the  progress  that  the  inscriptions  show 
us  to  have  been  made  beyond  the  stage  reached  by  pre- 
historic man,  it  becomes  clear  to  us  that  much — if  not 
most — of  that  progress  could  not  have  been  made  with- 
out the  aid  of  writing.  One  cannot  conceive  of  the 
invention  and  development  of  Astronomy,  for  instance, 
without  some  means  of  recording  observations  that  had 
been  made. 

In  developing  the  art  of  writing  itself,  much  prog- 
ress was  effected  in  both  countries,  and  many  improve- 
ments were  made  in  the  art  itself  that  must  have  been 
due  to  that  lower  order  of  invention  which  consists  in 
improving  on  things  already  existing.  In  addition,  in- 
vention was  employed  in  devising  and  arranging  means* 
for  preserving  the  writings  in  an  enduring  form.  In 
Babylonia,  this  was  done  by  making  the  writing  on  soft 
tablets  of  clay  about  an  inch  in  thickness,  that  were 
afterwards  baked  to  hardness.  In  the  case  of  records 
of  unusual  importance,  the  precaution  was  sometimes 
taken  of  covering  the  baked  inscription  with  a  thin 
layer  of  clay,  making  a  duplicate  inscription  on  this 

24 


INVENTION  _  IN    THE    ORIENT  25 

layer,  and  then  baking  it  also.  If  afterwards,  from  any 
cause,  the  outside  inscription  was  defaced,  it  could  be 
removed  and  the  inside  inscription  exposed  to  view. 

In  Egypt,  the  writing  was  done  on  sheets  of  papyrus, 
made  from  a  reed  that  grew  in  the  marshes.  To  devise 
and  make  both  the  baked  clay  tablets  and  the  papyrus, 
it  is  clear  that  invention  had  to  be  employed;  for  noth- 
ing exactly  like  them  existed  in  nature.  Thus  the  in- 
vention of  the  art  of  writing  was  supplemented  by  the 
invention  of  the  art  of  preserving  the  records  that  writ- 
ing made.  The  act  of  writing  would  have  been  use- 
ful, even  if  no  means  had  been  invented  for  preserving 
the  things  written;  even  if  the  things  written  had  per- 
ished in  a  day.  But  the  importance  of  the  invention 
of  writing  was  increased  ten  thousand  fold  by  the  in- 
vention of  the  means  for  preserving  the  things  writ- 
ten; because  without  that  means  it  would  have  been 
impossible  by  any  process  of  continual  copying  of  tab- 
lets to  keep  at  hand  for  reference  that  library  of  rec- 
ords of  the  past  on  which  all  progress  has  been  based, 
and  from  which  every  act  of  progress  has  started,  since 
some  inventor  of  Babylonia  invented  baked  clay  tablets 
and  some  inventor  of  Egypt  invented  papyrus. 

It  may  be  objected  that  there  is  no  reason  for  as- 
suming that  any  one  man  invented  either;  that  each 
invention  may  have  been  the  joint  work  of  two  men,  or 
of  several  men.  This^  of  course,  is  true;  but  it  does 
not  minimize  the  importance  of  either  invention,  or  the 
credit  due  to  the  inventors.  It  simply  divides  the  credit 
of  each  invention  among  several  men,  instead  of  giving 
it  all  to  one.  It  is  a  notable  fact,  however,  that,  al- 
though some  inventions  have  been  made  by  the  joint 
work  of  two  men,  and  although  some  books  have  been 
written,  and  some  music  has  been  composed  by  two  men 
working  in  cooperation,  yet  such  instances  have  been 
rare. 


26  INVENTION,    THE  .  MASTER-KEY 

Many  men  combine  to  do  constructive  work  of  many 
kinds,  and  millions  combine  to  work  and  fight  together 
in  armies ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  working 
together  of  many  men  has  been  made  possible  by  in- 
ventions, such  as  writing  and  printing.  Yet  there  is 
hardly  any  other  kind  of  work  that  is  so  wholly  a  "one 
man  job"  as  inventing.  The  fact  that  only  one  man,  as 
a  rule,  makes  a  certain  invention,  or  writes  a  certain 
book,  or  composes  a  certain  musical  piece,  or  does  any 
other  inventional  work,  seems  to  spring  naturally  from 
the  original  fact  that  an  invention  begins  with  a  picture 
made  by  imagination  on  a  mind.  Now  a  picture  so  made 
is  an  individual  picture  in  an  individual  mind.  If  the 
picture  is  allowed  to  fade,  or  if  from  any  cause  the  mind 
that  received  it  does  not  form  it  into  a  definite  entity, 
no  invention  is  made.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  mind 
develops  the  dim  picture  into  a  definite  entity  of  some 
kind,  that  mind  alone  has  made  that  invention;  even  if 
other  minds  improve  it  later  by  super-posing  other  in- 
ventions on  it. 

It  is  true  that  sometimes  a  man  who  receives  from 
his  imagination  a  mental  picture  of  some  possible  in- 
vention will  communicate  it  to  another  man,  and  that 
other  man  will  contribute  some  constructive  work,  and 
make  the  dim  picture  into  a  reality;  so  that  the  com- 
plete invention  resulting  will  be  the  joint  product  of 
two  men.  It  seems  to  be  a  fact,  however,  that  these 
dim  pictures  have  rarely  been  disclosed  while  in  the 
formless  period,  and  that  almost  every  invention  of 
which  we  know  the  history,  was  made  by  one  man  only. 

It  need  hardly  be  interjected  here  that  we  are  dis- 
cussing inventions  only,  and  not  the  acts  of  making  in- 
ventions practicable  in  the  sense  of  making  them  useful 
or  commercially  successful.  At  the  present  day,  there 
are  few  inventions  indeed,  which  even  after  having 
been  completed  as  inventions,  need  no  modification  at 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT 


27 


the  hands  of  the  engineer  and  the  manufacturer,  before 
they  are  suitable  to  be  put  to  practical  use. 

.  That  the  Babylonians  realized  the  importance  of 
their  invention  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  their  baked 
tablets  were  carefully  preserved,  and  that  in  some  cities 


0 

m 

tv 

V 

VI 
VII 

vni 


Foot  turned 
around  in  3 


Donkey 


Bird  ;  turned 
over  with  feet 
to  the  right 


Star 


Ox;  turned 
over  in  3 


Sun  or  Day 


Grain  ;  top  of 

stalk    turned 

over 


tf 


* 


m 


Early  Babylonian  Signs,  Showing  Their  Pictorial  Origin 

large  libraries  were  built  in  which  they  were  kept,  as 
books  are  kept  in  our  libraries  at  the  present  day. 
When  the  expedition  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania 
made  its  excavations  near  the  site  of  the  ancient  city 
of  Nippur,  in  the  southern  part  of  Babylonia  near  the 
city  of  Babylon,  a  library  was  discovered  that  contained 
more  than  thirty  thousand  tablets. 

The  writing  of  the  Babylonians,  while  phonetic,  was 
a  development  of  picture  writing,  each  character  ex- 


28  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

pressing  a  syllable,  and  was  made  of  wedge-shaped 
characters.  From  the  shape  of  the  characters  the  ad- 
jective cuneiform  has  been  applied  to  the  writing,  the 
word  coming  from  the  Latin  word,  cuneus,  a  wedge. 
Syllabic  writing  was  in  use  for  probably  three  thousand 
years  among  the  peoples  of  western  Asia. 

The  Babylonians  utilized  their  ingenuity  and  in- 
ventiveness in  divers  ways,  and  accomplished  many 
things  that  help  to  form  the  basis  of  our  civilization, 
without  which  we  cannot  imagine  it  to  exist.  Their 
creations  were  of  a  highly  practical  and  useful  kind, 
and  illustrate  the  proverb  that  "necessity  is  the  mother 
of  invention."  From  the  fact  that  their  ships  sailed 
the  waters  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  and  had  need  of  means 
to  locate  their  positions  and  determine  their  courses 
from  port  to  port,  and  from  the  fact  easily  noted  by 
their  navigators  that  the  heavenly  bodies  held  positions 
in  the  firmament  depending  on  their  direction  from  an 
observer,  and  on  the  month  and  season  and  the  time 
of  day,  the  study  of  the  heavens  was  undertaken;  with 
the  result  that  the  science  of  astronomy  was  conceived 
and  brought  into  existence. 

It  may  here  be  asked  if  this  achievement  can  prop- 
erly be  called  an  invention.  One  must  hesitate  a  little 
before  answering  this  question  either  negatively  or  posi- 
tively; because  such  an  achievement  is  not  usually  called 
an  invention,  and  yet  it  cannot  truthfully  be  denied  that 
there  is  nothing  in  Nature  like  the  science  of  astronomy, 
and  that  therefore  it  must  have  been  created  by  man. 
It  cannot  reasonably  be  denied,  also,  that  after  the 
science  had  at  last  been  formulated,  it  was  as  clearly  a 
distinct  entity  as  a  bow  and  arrow  or  a  telephone. 
Furthermore,  it  does  not  seem  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that,  before  any  of  the  principles  of  astronomy  were 
laid  down,  before  anyone  even  attempted  to  lay  them 
down,  before  anyone  even  attempted  to  ascertain  the 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  29 

laws  that  seemed  to  govern  the  movements  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies,  the  idea  must  have  occurred  to  someone 
that  those  heavenly  bodies  were  all  moving  in  obedience 
to  some  law;  and  a  more  or  less  confused  and  yet  real 
image  must  have  been  made  upon  his  mind  of  a  great 
celestial  machine.  He  must  actually  have  imagined 
such  a  machine.  This  first  act  would  be  quite  like  that 
of  the  inventor  of  a  mechanical  device.  The  next  act 
would  be  to  observe  and  record  all  the  phenomena  ob- 
servable in  connection  with  the  movements  of  the  ce- 
lestial bodies,  then  to  analyze  and  classify  them.  This 
series  of  acts  would  not,  of  course,  be  inventive  or  even 
constructive.  They  would  rather  be  like  those  studies 
of  any  art,  without  which  no  man  could  be  an  inventor 
in  that  art. 

The  analysis  having  been  completed,  the  positions  of 
the  heavenly  bodies  at  various  times  having  been  ascer- 
tained and  tabulated,  the  next  step  would  seem  to  be  to 
construct  a  supposititious  machine  of  which  each  part 
would  represent  a  heavenly  body,  and  in  which  those 
various  parts  would  move  according  to  laws  induced 
tentatively  from  the  actual  motions  of  certain  heavenly 
bodies.  If  it  were  afterwards  found  that  all  positions 
of  each  part,  predicted  in  advance  by  applying  the  laws 
tentatively  induced,  corresponded  to  the  actual  posi- 
tions of  the  heavenly  body  that  it  represented,  then  the 
supposititious  machine  could  be  truthfully  declared  to 
be  a  correct  imitation  of  the  great  celestial  machine. 
That  is,  the  machine  could  be  declared  to  be  successful. 

The  science  of  astronomy  is,  in  effect,  such  a  machine. 
Its  parts  are  representations  of  the  sun,  moon  and 
other  heavenly  bodies,  that  move  according  to  laws  that 
are  illustrated  in  the  diagrams,  and  expressed  precisely 
in  the  formulas. 

The  first  act  of  the  originator  of  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy being  one  of  the  imagination  in  conceiving  a 


30  INVENTION,   THE   MASTER-KEY 

picture  of  a  celestial  machine,  and  being  like  that  of  the 
inventor  in  conceiving  a  picture  of  an  earthly  machine ; 
and  his  second  act  being  also  like  that  of  the  inventor 
in  developing  the  picture,  a  justification  for  speaking  of 
the  "invention"  of  the  science  of  astronomy  may  per- 
haps be  reasonably  claimed. 

(We  must  bear  in  mind,  of  course,  that  no  invention 
is  complete  until  the  third  act  has  been  performed,  and 
the  thing  invented  has  been  actually  produced.) 

To  speak  of  invention  in  connection  with  bringing 
forth  novel  creations  is  far  from  new,  for  the  phrases 
"construct  a  theory,"  "invent  a  science,"  "invent  a  re- 
ligion," etc.,  are  in  almost  daily  use;  and  it  may  seem 
unnecessary  to  some  persons,  therefore,  to  discuss  it  at 
such  length.  But  most  people  seem  to  regard  such 
phrases  as  merely  figurative;  while  the  author  wishes 
to  make  it  plain  that  they  are  not  figurative  but  exact. 
As  this  modest  treatise  does  not  pretend  to  be  a 
learned  one,  and  as  the  author  is  not  a  professional 
scholar,  no  further  attempt  will  be  made  to  claim  the 
production  of  the  science  of  astronomy  as  an  invention. 
To  pursue  the  subject  further  would  be  merely  to  enter 
a  discussion  as  to  the  meaning,  both  original  and  de- 
rived, of  the  word  invention.  The  author,  however, 
cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that,  no  matter  what  may 
be  the  literally  correct  meaning  of  the  word,  the  mental 
acts  performed  by  the  originators  of  the  science  of  as- 
tronomy were  like  the  mental  acts  performed  by  the 
inventors  of  mechanical  appliances,  and  exerted  a  simi- 
lar influence  on  history.  That  is,  he  believes  that  the 
men  who  brought  into  being  the  science  of  astronomy 
and  the  men  who  brought  into  being  the  bow  and  ar- 
row, first  saw  pictures  on  the  mental  retina  of  some 
things  actual  yet  vague  and  formless,  and  then  con- 
structed entities  from  them.  He  believes  also  that  the 
creation  of  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  the  creation  of  the 


INVENTION   IN   THE   ORIENT  31 

science  of  astronomy  constituted  actual  and  similar 
stepping-stones  on  which  the  race  rose  toward  a  higher 
civilization. 

In,  default  of  any  definition  of  the  word  invention, 
which  precludes  its  application  to  the  origination  of 
a  science,  theory,  religion  or  formulated  school  of 
thought,  the  author  begs  permission  so  to  use  it,  in  in- 
dicating the  influence  on  history  of  the  novel  creations 
which,  according  to  this  meaning  of  the  word,  have 
been  inventions. 

The  influence  on  history  of  the  invention  of  the 
science  of  astronomy  has  been  so  great  that  we  cannot 
estimate  its  greatness.  On  it  the  whole  science  of  navi- 
gation rests.  Without  it,  the  science  and  the  art  of 
navigation  could  not  exist,  no  ships  could  cross  the 
ocean  from  one  port  to  another,  except  by  accident, 
and  the  lands  that  are  separated  by  the  ocean  would 
still  rest  in  complete  ignorance  of  each  other.  This 
world  would  not  be  a  world,  but  only  a  widely  sepa- 
rated number  of  barbarian  countries;  most  of  them  as 
ignorant  of  even  the  existence  of  the  others  as  in  the 
days  before  Columbus. 

Following  the  invention  of  astronomy,  or  as  it  was 
first  called,  Astrology,  the  imaginative  and  practically 
constructive  intellects  of  the  Babylonians  naturally  led 
them  to  invent  the  sun-dial  for  indicating  the  time  dur- 
ing the  day,  and  the  water-clock  for  indicating  it  during 
the  night. 

Another  invention,  doubtless  brought  into  being  by 
the  study  of  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  was 
the  duodecimal  system  of  notation,  of  which  the  base 
was  twelve.  In  accordance  with  this  system,  the  Baby- 
lonians divided  the  Zodiac  into  twelve  equal  parts  or 
"signs" ;  divided  the  year  into  nearly  equal  months,  that 
corresponded  approximately  to  the  length  of  a  lunar 
month;  divided  a  day  and  a  night  into  twelve  equal 


32  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

parts  or  hours;  divided  an  hour  in  sixty  (12x5)  equal 
parts  or  minutes,  and  divided  a  minute  into  sixty 
(12x5)  equal  parts  or  seconds. 

The  duodecimal  system  of  notation  has  been  sup- 
planted for  many  purposes  by  the  more  convenient 
decimal  system,  the  invention  of  which  is  attributed 
by  some  to  the  Arabs;  but  the  duodecimal  divisions  of 
time  are  still  with  us,  and  the  duodecimal  divisions  of 
the  circle  are  still  used  in  most  countries. 

The  duodecimal  system  of  notation  seems  to  have 
been  the  earliest  system  of  notation  invented;  and  it 
was  an  invention  so  important  that  we  cannot  imagine 
civilization  without  it  and  the  decimal  system,  possibly 
its  offspring.  The  influence  of  these  two  inventions  on 
history  has  been  so  great  that  the  mind  is  incapable  of 
realizing  its  greatness,  even  approximately. 

Who  were  the  inventors,  we  do  not  know.  It  is 
almost  certain  that  none  of  our  generation  ever  will 
know,  and  it  is  far  from  probable  that  any  one  of  any 
generation  will  ever  know.  If  any  knowledge  on  this 
subject  is  ever  given  to  the  world,  it  will  be  knowledge 
of  names  only — only  names.  Yet  some  human  beings, 
forgotten  now  and  probably  obscure  even  in  their  life- 
times, invented  those  systems,  and  contributed  more  to 
the  real  progress  of  the  race  than  many  of  the  great 
statesmen  and  warriors  of  history. 

The  Babylonians  invented  measures  of  length,  ca- 
pacity and  weight,  also;  and  it  is  from  those  measures 
that  all  the  later  measures  have  been  directly  or  indi- 
rectly derived.  To  have  invented  systems  by  which 
time,  angle,  distance,  space,  weight  and  volume  were 
lifted  out  of  the  realm  of  the  vague  and  formless  into 
the  realm  of  the  definite  and  actual,  was  an  achieve- 
ment that  almost  suggests  that  noted  in  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  in  the  words,  "And  God  said  'Let  there 
be  light,'  and  there  was  light" ;  for  what  a  clearing  up 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  33 

of  mental  darkness  followed,  when  the  science  of  meas- 
urement turned  its  rays  on  the  mysteries  that  beset  the 
path  of  early  man ! 

The  Egyptians  seem  to  have  been  inventors,  though 
hardly  to  the  same  degree  as  were  the  Babylonians. 
The  Egyptians  studied  the  heavens  and  employed  a 
science  of  astronomy;  and  it  is  possible  that  they,  rather 
than  the  Babylonians,  should  be  credited  with  its  in- 
vention. But  it  is  not  the  intention  of  this  book  to  de- 
cide points  in  dispute  in  history,  or  even  to  discuss  them. 
Its  intention  is  merely  to  study  the  influence  that  in- 
ventions and  inventors  had.  Whether  the  name  of  an 
inventor  was  John  Smith  or  Archimedes,  whether  he 
lived  in  the  year  1000  or  1100,  or  which  one  of  two 
rival  claimants  should  be  credited  with  the  honor  of 
any  invention,  is  often  an  interesting  question;  but  it  is 
not  one  that  is  especially  important  to  us,  unless  it  casts 
light  on  the  main  suggestion  of  our  inquiry.  The  only 
reason  for  mentioning  names  and  dates  and  countries 
in  this  book  is  to  show  the  sequence  of  inventions  as 
correctly  as  practicable.  In  order  to  show  the  influence 
of  invention  on  history  it  seems  best  to  give  the  treat- 
ment of  the  subject  an  historical  character. 

Possibly  the  most  important  invention  of  the  Egyp- 
tians was  papyrus,  which  was  the  precursor  of  the 
paper  of  today.  The  clay  tablets  of  the  Babylonians 
were  clearly  much  less  adapted  to  the  making  of  many 
records  than  was  papyrus.  One  cannot  readily  im- 
agine an  edition  of  300,000  newspapers  like  the  New 
York  Times,  made  out  of  clay  tablets  an  inch  in  thick- 
ness, and  sold  on  the  streets  by  newsboys.  Clearly  the 
invention  of  papyrus  was  one  so  important  that  we 
cannot  declare  any  invention  as  more  important,  ex- 
cept on  the  basis  that  (other  factors  being  equal)  the 
earlier  an  invention  was  the  more  important  it  was.  To 


34  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 


Villa  of  an  Egyptian  Noble 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  35 

assume  such  a  basis  would,  of  course,  be  eminently  rea- 
sonable; because  the  earlier  invention  must  have  sup- 
plied the  basis  in  part  for  the  making  of  the  later.  The 
invention  of  writing,  for  instance,  was  more  important 
than  the  invention  of  papyrus. 

A  curious  invention  of  the  Egyptians  was  the  art  of 
embalming  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  an  art  still  practiced 
in  civilized  countries.  It  was  prompted  by  their  belief 
that  the  preservation  of  the  body  was  necessary,  in 
order  to  secure  the  welfare  of  the  soul  in  the  future 
life.  This  belief  resulted  further  in  building  sepulchres 
of  elaborate  design,  filling  them  with  multitudes  of  ob- 
jects of  many  kinds,  decorating  the  walls  with  paint- 
ings, sculptures  and  inscriptions,  and  placing  important 
manuscripts  in  the  coffins  with  the  mummies  or  em- 
balmed bodies.  The  sepulchres  of  the  kings  were,  of 
course,  the  largest  and  most  elaborate  of  all;  and  of 
these  sepulchres  the  grandest  were  the  pyramids.  By 
reason  of  the  great  care  and  labor  lavished  on  tombs 
and  sepulchres  and  pyramids,  and  by  reason  also  of 
the  dryness  of  the  air  in  Egypt,  and  the  consequent 
durability  of  works  of  stone,  it  has  been  from  the  tombs 
that  many  of  the  clearest  items  of  information  have 
come  to  us  about  old  Egyptian  times. 

The  Egyptians  excelled  in  architecture,  and  the 
greatest  of  their  buildings  were  the  pyramids.  As  to 
whether  or  not  there  was  much  invention  devoted  to 
those  works,  it  is  virtually  impossible  now  to  know. 
The  probability  seems  to  be  that  they  could  not  have 
been  produced  without  the  promptings  of  the  inventor, 
but  that  the  progress  was  a  slow  and  gradual  march. 
It  seems  that  there  was  a  long  series  of  many  small 
inventions  that  made  short  steps,  and  not  a  few  basic 
inventions  that  proceeded  by  great  leaps. 

The  Egyptians  seem  to  have  been  the  inventors  of 
arithmetic  and  geometry.  What  men  in  particular 


36  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

should  most  be  credited  with  inventing  them,  we  do 
not  know;  but  that  some  men  were  the  original  inven- 
tors the  probabilities  seem  to  intimate.  For  these 
sciences  were  creations  just  as  actual  as  the  steam  en- 
gine, and  could  hardly  have  been  produced  save  by 
similar  procedures. 

The  suggestion  may  here  be  made  that  whatever  we 
do  is  the  result  (or  ought  to  be)  of  a  decision  to  do  it, 


The  Pyramids  of  Gizeh 

that  follows  a  mental  process  not  very  different  from 
that  invented  by  the  German  General  Staff  for  solving 
military  problems.  By  this  process  one  writes  down — 

1.  The  mission — the  thing  which  it  is  desired  to 
accomplish. 

2.  The  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accomplishing  it. 

3.  The  facilities  available  for  accomplishing  it. 

4.  The  decision — that  is,  how  to  employ  the  facilities 
to  overcome  the  difficulties  and  accomplish  the  mission. 

In  solving  a  military  problem  (or  in  solving  many 
of  the  problems  of  daily  life)  it  is  often  a  matter  of 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  37 

great  difficulty  to  arrive  at  a  clear  understanding  of 
what  the  mission  actually  is,  what  one  really  wishes  to 
accomplish.  In  the  majority  of  ordinary  cases,  how- 
ever, the  mission  stands  out  as  a  clear  picture  in  the 
mind.  Such  a  case  would  be  one  in  which  an  enemy 
were  making  a  direct  attack;  for  the  mission  would  be 
simply  to  repel  it.  Another  case  would  be  one  in  which 
the  mission  was  stated  by  the  terms  of  a  problem  itself; 
for  instance,  to  build  a  steam  engine  to  develop  1000 
horse  power.  In  the  case  of  the  inventor,  the  mission 
seems  to  be  sent  to  him  as  a  mental  picture;  he  sud- 
denly sees  a  dim  picture  in  his  mind  of  something  that 
he  must  make. 

Perhaps,  many  centuries  ago,  some  man  who  had 
been  laying  out  plots  of  ground  in  Egypt,  of  different 
shapes  and  sizes,  and  making  computations  for  each 
one,  suddenly  saw  a  phantom  picture  in  which  all  the 
lines  and  figures  appeared  grouped  in  a  few  classes,  and 
arranged  in  conformity  to  a  few  fixed  rules.  The  mis- 
sion was  given  to  him  free,  but  it  devolved  on  him  to 
formulate  the  rules.  As  soon  as  he  had  formulated 
and  proved  the  rules,  the  science  of  Geometry  existed. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  conception  of  the 
idea  required  no  labor  on  the  part  of  the  conceiver. 
He  was  virtually  a  passive  receiver.  His  labor  came 
afterwards,  when  he  had  to  do  the  constructive  work 
of  "giving  to  airy  nothing  a  local  habitation  and  a 


name." 


The  Egyptians  seem  to  have  learned  the  use  of  many 
drugs,  though  they  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  invented 
a  system  or  a  science  of  medicine.  They  did,  however, 
invent  a  system  of  characters  for  indicating  the  weights 
of  drugs.  Those  characters  are  used  by  apothecaries 
still. 

The  first  means  of  cure  were  incantations  that  evi- 
dently influenced  the  mind.  It  is  interesting  to  note 


38  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

that  modern  systems  tend  to  decrease  the  use  of  drugs 
and  increase  that  of  mental  suggestion. 

Both  the  Babylonians  and  the  Egyptians  held  re- 
ligious beliefs;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  religious  beliefs 
of  either  were  so  definite  and  formulated  that  they 
could  be  correctly  called  religions,  according  to  our 
ideas  of  what  constitutes  a  religion.  An  interesting 
fact  is  the  wide  difference  between  the  beliefs  of  the 
two  peoples,  in  view  of  the  similarity  of  many  of  the 
other  features  of  their  civilizations.  The  beliefs  of 
neither  can  be  called  highly  spiritual;  but  of  the  two, 
the  Egyptian  seems  to  have  been  the  more  so.  The 
Egyptians  believed  that  the  souls  of  those  who  had 
lived  good  lives  would  be  rewarded;  while  the  Babylo- 
nian belief  did  not  include  even  a  judgment  of  the  dead. 

One  of  the  most  important  inventions  made  in 
Babylonia  was  that  of  a  code  of  laws.  It  is  usually 
ascribed  to  a  king  named  Hammurabi ;  but  whether  he 
was  the  real  inventor  or  not,  we  have  no  means  of 
knowing.  We  do  know,  however,  that  the  first  code 
of  laws  of  which  there  is  any  record  was  invented  in 
his  reign,  and  that  it  was  the  prototype  of  all  that  have 
followed  since. 

The  influence  on  history  of  the  invention  and  carry- 
ing into  effect  of  a  formulated  code  of  laws,  we  cannot 
exactly  gauge;  but  we  may  assert  with  confidence  that 
modern  civilization  would  not  have  been  possible  with- 
out codes  of  laws,  and  that  the  first  code  must  have 
been  more  important  than  any  code  that  followed,  be- 
cause it  led  the  way. 

Both  the  Babylonians  and  the  Egyptians  seem  to 
have  made  most  of  their  inventions  in  the  period  of 
their  youth,  and  to  have  become  conservative  as  they 
grew  older.  The  Babylonians  were  a  great  people 
until  about  the  year  1250  B.  C.,  when  a  subject  city, 
Assur,  in  the  north,  threw  off  its  allegiance  and  formed 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  39 

an  independent  state,  Assyria.  The  decline  of  Baby- 
lonia continued  until  the  fall  of  Assyria  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  Nineveh,  its  capital,  about  the  year  606  B.  C., 
when  the  new  Babylonian,  or  Chaldean  Empire,  came 
into  existence.  It  enjoyed  a  period  of  splendid  but 
brief  prosperity  until  it  was  captured  by  Cyrus,  king 
of  Persia,  in  the  year  538  B.  C. 

Egypt's  career  continued  until  a  later  day;  but  it  was 
never  glorious  in  statesmanship,  war  or  invention,  after 
her  youth  had  passed. 

A  nation  possibly  as  old  as  the  Babylonian  or  Egyp- 
tian was  the  Chinese ;  but  of  their  history,  less  is  known. 
It  is  well  established,  however,  that  they  possessed  a 
system  of  picture  writing  in  which  each  word  was  rep- 
resented by  a  symbol.  The  system  was  much  more 
cumbrous,  of  course,  than  the  syllabic  or  alphabetical; 
but  its  invention  was  a  performance,  nevertheless,  of 
the  utmost  brilliancy  and  importance,  viewed  from  the 
light  of  what  the  world  was  then.  There  is  little  doubt 
also  that  the  Chinese  were  the  original  inventors  of  the 
magnetic  compass  and  of  printing  from  blocks,  two  of 
those  essential  inventions,  without  which  civilization 
could  not  have  been  brought  about.  Another  of  China's 
inventions  was  gunpowder;  though  it  is  not  clear  that 
the  Chinese  ever  used  it  to  propel  projectiles  out  of 
guns. 

Achievements  equally  great,  and  maybe  greater, 
were  the  creations  of  religions — Confucianism  and 
Taoism,  invented  in  China,  and  Buddhism,  invented 
in  India.  These  religions  may  seem  to  us  very  crude 
and  commonplace  and  earthy;  but  we  should  not  shut 
our  eyes  to  the  fact  that  they  have  probably  influ- 
enced a  greater  number  of  human  beings  toward  right 
living  than  any  other  three  religions  that  we  know  of. 

Like  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  China  became  conser- 
vative as  she  grew  older.  At  the  present  day,  her 


40  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

name  stands  almost  as  the  symbol  of  everything  non- 
progressive  and  non-inventive. 

Assyria  was  able  to  capture  Babylon  about  the  year 
1250  B.  C.,  and  to  maintain  the  position  of  the  domi- 
nant power  in  western  Asia  for  about  600  years.  A 
progressive  and  ambitious  people,  they  accomplished 
an  original  and  important  step  in  the  art  of  govern- 
ment by  organizing  conquered  peoples  into  provinces 
under  governors  appointed  by  the  king.  It  does  not 
seem  to  be  a  great  straining  of  the  word  to  declare 
that  this  achievement  was  so  novel,  so  concrete  and  so 
useful  as  to  possess  the  essential  features  of  an  inven- 
tion. For  if  we  realize  that  during  all  the  times  that 
had  gone  by,  conquered  peoples  had  remained  simply 
conquered  peoples,  paying  tribute  but  not  forming 
parts  of  the  conquering  state,  we  can  see  that  the  idea 
of  actually  incorporating  them  into  the  state,  thereby 
increasing  the  population  of  the  state  by  the  number  of 
people  incorporated,  and  making  the  state  stronger  in 
that  proportion,  we  can  hardly  fail  to  realize  that  the 
conception  of  doing  this  was  of  the  highest  order  of 
brilliancy.  To  work  out  afterwards  the  details  of  de- 
veloping the  conception  in  such  a  way  as  to  render  pos- 
sible the  production  of  an  actual  and  workable  ma- 
chine of  government  was  a  constructive  act.  When 
the  machine  was  actually  produced  a  new  thing  had 
been  created.  In  other  words,  the  institution  of  this 
new  scheme  in  government  seems  to  have  followed  the 
same  three  stages  as  the  invention  of  a  mechanical  de- 
vice; that  is,  conception,  development  and  production. 

The  likeness  between  this  process  and  that  of  con- 
ception, gestation  and  birth  is  obvious. 

The  Assyrians  were  evidently  a  very  practical  and 
constructive  people,  somewhat  such  people  as  the  Ro- 
mans later  were.  They  devoted  themselves  to  the 
practical  side  of  life,  and  to  this  end  they  developed 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  41 

the  governmental  and  the  military  arts.  They  were 
great  warriors.  The  period  of  their  greatest  greatness 
was  in  the  seventh  and  eighth  centuries  B.  C.,  when  the 
conquerors  Sargon  II  and  Sennacherib  were  kings.  The 
splendor  of  the  empire  afterwards  was  conspicuous  but 
not  long  lived;  for  after  unifying  the  great  nations  of 
the  Orient  under  Assyrian  rule,  and  carrying  on  wars 
marked  with  the  utmost  of  cruelty  and  oppression,  they 
finally  entered  on  a  rapid  decline  in  morals,  and  conse- 
quently in  national  prosperity  and  strength.  The  end 
came  in  606  B.  C.,  when  a  combined  force  of  Medes 
and  Babylonians  captured  and  sacked  the  hated 
Nineveh,  the  capital.  The  intensity  of  the  hatred 
against  the  Assyrians  may  be  gauged  by  the  completion 
of  the  destruction  visited  on  Nineveh.  When  Xeno- 
phon  saw  its  ruins  only  two  centuries  afterwards,  he 
could  not  even  ascertain  what  city  those  ruins  marked. 

The  Assyrians  have  left  us  clearer  records  of  their 
achievements  in  the  invention  of  weapons  than  has  any 
other  ancient  nation.  It  is  impossible  to  declare  with 
certainty  that  all  the  seemingly  novel  weapons  and 
armor  which  the  ancient  Assyrians  possessed  and  used 
were  invented  by  themselves,  and  not  by  the  Egyptians 
or  the  Babylonians ;  but  the  mere  facts  that  the  Assyri- 
ans were  the  most  military  nation  of  the  three,  and 
that  the  specimens  of  those  weapons  which  have  come 
down  to  us  have  been  mostly  Assyrian,  give  probability 
to  that  supposition. 

The  Assyrian  soldier  was  finely  equipped  and  armed 
as  far  back  as  the  thirteenth  century  B.  C.;  and  As- 
syrian bas-reliefs  show  that  they  actually  used  war- 
chariots  then,  drawn  by  horses  and  operated  by  armed 
warriors.  The  infantry  soldiers  wore  defensive  armor 
consisting  of  helmets,  corslets  made  of  skin  or  some 
woven  stuff  on  which  plates  of  metal  were  sewn,  and 
sometimes  coats  of  steel  mail;  with  leggings  to  pro- 


42  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

tect  the  legs.  They  carried  shields,  and  were  armed 
with  lances,  swords,  slings  and  bows  and  arrows.  The 
Assyrians  employed  cavalry,  the  horsemen  wearing 
mail  armor,  and  carrying  shields  and  swords  and 
lances.  They  employed  archers  also;  the  archers  being 
sometimes  mounted. 

The  use  of  war-chariots,  with  all  the  mechanical 
equipment  that  was  necessary,  in  order  to  make  them 
operate  effectively,  shows  a  state  of  civilization  much 
higher  than  many  people  realize.  It  shows  also  that  a 
great  deal  of  inventiveness  and  constructiveness  must 
have  been  employed,  and  must  have  been  skilfully 
directed; — for  it  is  a  very  long  road — a  very  long  road 
indeed — from  the  bow  and  arrow  to  the  war-chariot. 
In  order  to  produce  the  war-chariot,  several  inventions 
must  have  previously  been  made.  The  most  important 
of  these  was  one  of  the  most  important  inventions  ever 
made, — the  wheel. 

Who  invented  the  wheel,  and  when  and  where  did 
he  invent  it? 

This  is  one  of  the  unanswered  questions  of  history. 
The  war-chariot  suddenly  appears  on  the  stage,  with- 
out any  preliminary  announcement,  and  without  any 
knowledge  on  our  part  that  even  the  wheel  on  which 
it  moved  had  been  invented. 

It  is  true  that  the  records  of  prehistoric  man  show 
us  that  in  fashioning  pottery  he  used  a  disc  that  he 
revolved  on  a  spindle  and  applied  to  the  surface  of  the 
urn  or  vase ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  a  revolving  disc  is 
a  kind  of  wheel.  But  a  disc  revolving  on  a  stationary 
spindle  is  in  its  intent  and  use  a  very  different  imple- 
ment from  a  wheel  placed  on  a  chariot,  and  turned  by 
the  forward  movement  of  the  chariot  itself,  for  the 
important  purpose  of  reducing  its  resistance  to  being 
drawn  along  the  ground. 

It  is  true  also  that  invention  was  needed  to  produce 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  43 

the  revolving  disc,  the  forerunner  of  all  the  polishing 
and  turning  machines  on  the  earth  today.  But  the 
wheel  was  a  different  invention,  probably  a  later  one, 
and  certainly  a  more  important  one.  There  are  things 
sometimes  seen  in  nature  that  look  a  little  like  revolv- 
ing discs;  for  instance,  swirls  of  dust  or  water.  In 
fact,  almost  anything  put  in  rotation  looks  like  one,  if 
the  rotation  is  rapid  enough;  for  instance,  the  sling  that 
a  primeval  slinger  revolved  around  his  head.  But 
what  do  we  know  of  in  nature  that  looks  like  a  wheel, 
or  that  is  used  for  a  similar  purpose  ?  Nothing.  This 
being  the  case,  the  mind  may  lose  itself  in  speculation 
as  to  what  could  have  led  to  the  conception  of  such  an 
appliance  in  the  mind  of  the  original  inventor  of  the 
wheel. 

The  suggestion  may  be  hazarded  that  the  invention 
was  preceded  by  an  accidental  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  it  was  easier  to  drag  something  along  the  ground, 
if  it  rested  on  round  logs,  than  if  it  did  not  so  rest; 
and  by  noting  also  that  the  logs  were  passed  over  and 
left  behind  continually.  From  this  point  to  the  mental 
conception  of  a  roller  that  would  not  be  left  behind, 
but  would  be  secured  to  the  thing  dragged  by  a  round 
shaft  on  which  it  revolved,  there  was  probably  a  single 
mental  jump.  Someone  saw  such  a  contrivance  with 
his  mental  eye.  It  looked  dim  and  unreal — but  he  saw 
it.  To  make  the  picture  clear,  and  then  to  develop  the 
thing  pictured,  constructiveness  was  used.  In  other 
words,  conception  and  development  accomplished 
their  successive  but  cooperating  tasks.  The  invention 
was  complete  when  a  wheel  was  actually  produced. 

To  realize  the  importance  of  the  wheel,  we  have  but 
to  ask  ourselves  (or  our  neighbors)  how  history  could 
possibly  have  been  even  approximately  what  it  has  been 
if  the  wheel  had  not  been  invented. 

Another  important  invention  probably  made  by  the 


44  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Assyrians  was  the  catapult;  another  one,  somewhat 
similar,  was  the  balista.  The  catapult  was  used  for 
hurling  stones,  balls,  etc.;  the  balista  for  shooting  ar- 
rows with  greater  force  than  an  archer  could  exert. 
Another  was  the  battering  ram  for  making  breaches 
in  the  walls  of  fortresses. 

The  Assyrians  used  these  inventions  in  their  wars 
against  the  contiguous  nations  of  the  East,  and  with 
their  aid  achieved  the  mastery,  and  unified  the  Orient. 


Assyrians  Flaying  Prisoners  Alive.     (From  a  bas-relief.) 

That  the  Assyrian  rule  was  harsh  and  cruej  should 
not  be  denied;  but,  on  the  principle  that  any  kind  of 
government  is  better  than  no  government,  it  cannot 
reasonably  be  supposed  that  the  central  and  efficient 
administration  of  Assyria  was  not  better  than  the  con- 
dition of  continual  petty  wars  and  quarrels  that  had 
existed  among  the  numerous  tribes  and  nations,  with 
their  enormous  possibilities  for  suffering  of  all  kinds. 
It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that  the  cruelties  and  in- 
justices committed  by  any  powerful  government  against 
great  numbers  of  persons  attract  immeasurably  more 
notice  and  condemnation  by  historians  and  others  than 
do  the  numberless  atrocities  of  all  kinds  that  lie  hidden 
in  the  darkness  of  anarchy,  or  the  confusion  of  petty 
wars.  In  the  endeavor  to  preserve  order  over  widely 
separated  and  barbarous  peoples,  when  means  of  trans- 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  45 

portation  and  communication  were  inadequate,  stern 
measures  seem  always  to  have  been  required.  That 
they  have  often  been  too  stern,  and  that  great  cruelty 
has  often  been  exercised,  the  wail  of  the  ages  testifies. 
But  human  nature  is  very  imperfect;  and  no  really  good 
government,  no  government  free  from  the  faults  of 
man,  has  ever  been  established.  Yet  every  government 
has  been  better  than  anarchy. 

The  Assyrians,  despite  their  cruel  treatment  of  their 
conquered  peoples,  did  a  direct  service  to  mankind  and 
gave  a  powerful  stimulus  to  the  march  of  progress. 
For  the  great  empire  which  they  established,  and  the 
great  cities  which  grew  up,  and  the  system  of  prov- 
inces which  they  instituted,  formed  a  pattern  for  similar 
work  by  later  nations;  while  the  civilization  which  they 
spread  throughout  the  more  backward  countries  under 
their  rule,  especially  in  Greece,  started  the  later  cul- 
ture which  Greece  developed,  and  which  is  the  basis 
of  all  that  is  most  beautiful  in  the  civilization  of  today. 

The  influence  of  the  weapons  which  the  Assyrians 
invented  was  toward  this  end. 

Between  Egypt  on  the  west  and  Babylonia  and  As- 
syria on  the  east  lay  Syria ;  a  territory  not  very  large, 
of  which  the  part  that  played  the  most  prominent  part 
in  history  bordered  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean Sea.  Two  important  peoples  dwelt  in  Syria, 
the  Hebrews  and  the  Phoenicians.  Both  belonged  to 
the  Semitic  race,  and  neither  was  distinctly  warlike; 
though  the  Hebrews  during  a  brief  period  achieved 
considerable  military  strength  and  skill,  under  their 
great  king  David. 

The  main  gift  of  the  Hebrews  to  the  world  was  the 
Jewish  religion,  a  more  spiritual  religion  than  any  that 
had  preceded  it,  and  based  on  a  conception  of  one  God, 
a  holy  God.  The  ideas  held  of  immortality  and  of 
judgment  after  death  for  the  deeds  done  in  this  life 


46  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

were  not  entirely  new,  but  the  conception  of  a  holy  and 
beneficent  Deity  was  new;  and  it  was  so  inspiring  and 
stimulating  a  conception  that  it  lifted  the  Jews  at  once 
to  a  moral  and  spiritual  plane  higher  than  any  people 
had,  ever  lived  on  before.  It  constituted  a  step  also 
directly  toward  the  Christian  religion — which  also  was 
born  in  Syria;  in  Palestine. 

That  the  conception  and  establishment  of  the  Jewish 
religion  was  an  invention  may  not  be  admitted  by  some ; 
but  the  author  respectfully  asks  attention  to  the  sense  in 
which  he  uses  the  word  invention  in  this  book,  and  points 
out  that  they  constituted  an  invention  In  that  sense. 

That  it  was  a  beneficent  invention,  and  that  it  helped 
the  human  race  spiritually  in  a  way  analogous  to  that 
in  which  the  invention  of  many  mechanical  devices 
helped  it  materially,  does/  not  seem  hard  to  realize. 
For  in  both  cases  the  race  was  transported  away  from 
savagery  and  toward  high  civilization;  and  in  both 
cases  there  was  first  a  conception  of  something  desira- 
ble, then  a  constructive  effort  to  develop  it,  and  finally 
its  production. 

The  Phoenicians  lived  just  north  of  the  Jews,  and 
possessed  a  territory  smaller  than  that  of  any  other 
people  who  ever  exercised  an  equal  influence  on  his- 
tory; for  it  embraced  merely  a  little  strip  of  land 
hardly  longer  than  a  hundred  and  twenty  miles  from 
north  to  south,  or  wider  on  the  average  than  twelve 
miles  from  east  to  west.  It  bordered  on  the  eastern 
edge  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  was  shut  off  by  the 
mountains  of  Lebanon  from  Syria,  that  lay  due  east. 

The  Phoenicians  were  a  people  of  extraordinary  en- 
terprise and  initiative.  Inventors  are  men  of  extraordi- 
nary enterprise  and  initiative.  How  much  the  Phoe- 
nicians are  to  be  credited  with  the  invention  of  sailing 
vessels,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing;  but  we  do  know 
that  (with  the  possible  exception  of  the  Egyptians)  the 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  47 

Phoenicians  were  more  identified  with  early  navigation 
by  sailing  vessels  and  by  vessels  pulled  by  oars  than 
any  other  people.  It  is  even  known  that  Phoenician 
vessels  were  navigating  the  Eastern  Mediterranean, 
both  under  sails  and  under  oars,  as  long  ago  as  1500 
B.  C.  So,  while  we  should  not  be  justified  in  asserting 
positively  that  the  Phoenicians  were  the  inventors  and 
developers  of  sailing  vessels  and  of  vessels  pulled  by 
banks  of  oars  and  steered  by  rudders,  we  may  declare 
with  ample  reason  that  probably  they  were. 

For  the  purposes  of  this  book,  however,  the  identity 
of  the  inventors  is  not  important.  What  is  important 
is  the  fact  that  the  invention  of  those  vessels  had  im- 
mediate fruit  in  a  commerce  by  which  the  products  of 
eastern  civilization  were  taken  westward  to  Greece  and 
other  countries,  while  tin  and  other  raw  material  were 
brought  east  from  Spain  and  even  Britain;  and  that  it 
had  later  fruit  in  gradually  building  up  a  western  civili- 
zation. It  had  other  fruit  as  well,  in  demonstrating  the 
possibilities  and  the  value  of  ocean  commerce,  and  form- 
ing the  basis  of  the  world-wide  navigation  of  today. 

Few  inventions  have  had  a  greater  influence  on  his- 
tory than  that  of  the  sailing  ship.  To  some  of  us  it 
may  seem  that  no  invention  was  involved;  that  to  use 
sails  was  an  obvious  thing  to  think  of  and  accomplish. 
But  if  any  one  of  us  will  close  his  eyes  a  moment  and 
imagine  an  absence  of  most  of  the  great  scientific  and 
mechanical  knowledge  of  today,  and  imagine  also  the 
absence  of  nearly  all  the  present  acquaintance  with  the 
laws  of  weather,  flotation,  resistance  to  propulsion,  met- 
acentric  height,  etc.,  he  may  realize  what  a  feat  was  the 
invention  of  the  sailing  ship  and  even  of  the  ship  pulled 
with  oars  and  steered  with  a  rudder.  It  is  true  that 
we  have  no  reason  to  assume  that  either  vessel  was 
conceived  by  one  leap  of  the  imagination  and  developed 
by  one  act,  while  we  have  many  reasons  to  think  that 


48  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

each  was  the  result  of  a  series  of  short  steps;  but  this 
does  not  invalidate  the  invention  of  the  ships,  or  de- 
preciate its  influence. 

By  two  other  achievements,  also,  the  Phoenicians 
showed  the  kinship  between  the  inventor  and  the  man 
of  enterprise  and  initiative ;  the  invention  of  the  Tyrian 
dyes  and  of  an  alphabetical  system  of  writing  that 
forms  the  basis  of  the  systems  of  today.  Here  again 
it  is  necessary  to  remind  ourselves  that  possibly  the 
Phoenicians  were  not  the  sole  and  original  inventors  of 
the  alphabet,  and  that  they  may  have  merely  improved 
upon  a  system  invented  by,  say,  the  Cretans;  and  again 
it  may  be  helpful  to  point  out  that  the  important  fact  is 
not  the  personality  of  the  inventors  but  the  birth  of  the 
invention,  and  the  influence  of  the  invention  on  history. 
Certain  it  is,  however,  that  it  was  the  Phoenicians  who 
brought  alphabetical  writing  to  the  practical  stage  and 
who  not  only  used  it  themselves,  but  carried  it  in  their 
ships  all  over  the  Mediterranean,  where  it  bore  abun- 
dant fruit.  It  bore  fruit  especially  in  Greece. 

Phoenicia  is  an  instructive  illustration  of  the  fact  that 
a  country  (like  a  man)  may  make  inventions  of  lasting 
usefulness  to  mankind,  and  yet  not  hold  a  position  of 
power  or  splendor  in  the  world.  Phoenicia  was  nearly 
always  a  vassal,  paying  tribute  to  one  great  monarchy 
or  another. 

In  striking  contrast  with  Phoenicia  was  the  empire 
of  Persia,  which,  though  it  gave  to  the  world  of  that 
day  the  best  government  it  had  ever  known,  contributed 
nothing  in  the  nature  of  an  actual  new  stepping-stone 
to  civilization. 

Persia  conquered  Lydia,  which  is  credited  with  the 
important  invention  of  coinage.  The  coins  first  issued 
by  the  Lydians  were  of  electrum,  an  alloy  of  gold  and 
silver.  King  Croesus  later  issued  coins  of  pure  gold 
and  pure  silver. 


INVENTION    IN    THE    ORIENT  49 

Directly  east  of  Syria  was  Phrygia.  It  was  in  Phry- 
gia  that  the  flute,  the  first  real  musical  instrument,  is 
supposed  to  have  been  invented,  in  about  the  sixteenth 
century  B.  C. 

The  brief  resume  just  given  of  the  inventions  made 
in  prehistoric  times,  and  also  in  historic  times  in  China, 
Egypt  and  western  Asia,  shows  that  before  Greece 
had  attained  any  civilization  whatever  the  most  impor- 
tant inventions  for  the  betterment  of  mankind  had  been 
already  made.  These  inventions  were  not  only  me- 
chanical appliances  and  such  arts  as  spinning,  weav- 
ing, pottery  making,  etc.,  that  were  intended  for  safety 
and  material  benefit  generally;  for  they  included  sys- 
tems of  government  and  codes  of  laws  and  even  re- 
ligions that  aimed  to  elevate  man,  and  that  did  elevate 
him  mentally,  morally  and  spiritually. 

At  the  present  day,  when  inventions  follow  each 
other  with  such  rapidity  that  even  students  and  ex- 
perts cannot  keep  themselves  informed  about  them,  ex- 
cept in  certain  specialties,  it  is  natural  for  us  to  feel 
that  no  inventing  of  any  consequence  was  ever  done 
before.  In  fact,  the  present  age  is  called  uThe  Age  of 
Invention."  Yet  all  the  inventions  of  the  last  century 
added  together  hav,e  not  had  so  great  influence  on 
mankind  as  the  invention  of  writing,  or  of  the  bow  and 
arrow,  or  the  wheel — or  almost  any  of  the  inventions 
we  have  noted.  Not  only  are  they  not  so  important,— 
they  were  not  so  novel,  they  did  not  constitute  steps 
so  long,  they  did  not  mark  such  epochs,  and  probably 
resulted  from  less  brilliant  pictures  on  the  mind.  Can 
anyone  think  that  the  telephone  was  as  novel  or  as 
important  as  the  wheel  ?  Can  anyone  suppose  that  the 
steam  engine,  or  the  electric  telegraph,  or  the  powder- 
gun  took  us  as  long  a  step  upward  to  civilization  as 
did  papyrus?  Will  anyone  declare  that  the  railroad 


50  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ushered  in  as  great  an  epoch  as  the  sailing  ship?  Is  it 
probable  that  the  first  conception  of  the  phonograph 
made  quite  so  startling  a  picture  on  the  accustomed 
brain  of  the  habitual  inventor  as  that  of  the  art  of 
making  fire  did  on  the  virgin  mentality  of  the  savage  ? 
The  last  contribution  of  western  Asia  to  the  bet- 
terment of  the  world  was  Christianity.  It  was  not 
made  until  after  Greece  had  reached  the  prime  of  her 
civilization  and  passed  beyond  it;  and  some  may  con- 
sider it  a  sacrilege  to  call  it  an  invention.  It  was  an 
inspiration  from  On  High.  But  dare  anyone  assert 
that  the  wonderful  conceptions  that  have  come  unbid- 
den to  the  minds  of  the  great  inventors  were  not.  in 
their  degree,  also  inspirations  from  On  High?  Whence 
did  they  come  ?  That  they  came  there  can  be  no  doubt. 
Whence  did  they  come?  Our  religion  teaches  us  that 
God  directs  our  paths,  that  He  puts  good  thoughts  into 
our  minds.  It  also  teaches  us  that  He  inspired  the 
men  who  wrote  the  Bible.  In  the  ordinary  meaning 
of  the  word  "inspired,"  Some  One  inspired  every  noble 
and  novel  and  beneficent  achievement  that  was  ever 
made.  Who? 

Without  insisting  tediously  on  the  meaning  of  the 
word  invention,  one  may  point  out  that  the  word  is 
used  continually  to  mean  a  mental  act  by  which  some- 
thing heretofore  non-existent  is  created.  The  expertest 
of  all  word  users,  in  any  language,  cried: 

"Oh,  for  a  muse  that  would  ascend  the  highest 
heaven  of  invention";  expressing  almost  exactly  what 
the  present  author  is  trying  to  express,  and  indicating 
invention  as  the  highest  effort  of  the  mind. 

In  this  sense,  may  I  reverently  claim  the  Christian 
Religion  as  an  invention,  one  of  the  greatest  inven- 
tions ever  made  ? 


CHAPTER    III 

INVENTION    IN   GREECE 

OUR  brief  survey  has  thus  far  carried  us  over  the 
lands  of  Egypt,  China  and  western  Asia;  lands 
so  far  removed  from  us  in  distance,  and  inhabited  by 
people  so  far  removed  from  us  in  time  and  character, 
that  they  seem  to  belong  almost  to  another  world.  But 
we  now  are  coming  to  a  country  which,  though  its  his- 
tory goes  back  many  centuries  before  the  Christian 
era,  was  a  country  of  Europe  and  inhabited  by  a  peo- 
ple who  seem  near.  The  Greeks  who  overran  what 
we  now  call  Greece,  probably  about  1500  B.  C.,  took 
possession  of  a  civilization  exceedingly  high,  which  the 
inhabitants  of  the  mainland  and  the  ^Egean  Islands 
had  received  from  the  East,  through  the  Phoenicians, 
who  brought  it  in  their  ships.  This  civilization  the 
^Egean  islanders,  especially  the  Cretans,  had  developed 
and  improved,  particularly  in  creations  of  beauty  and 
works  of  art.  The  Greeks  created  a  still  higher  civili- 
zation, and  transmitted  it  to  us.  The  influence  of 
Greek  civilization  we  see  on  every  hand : — in  our  lan- 
guage, in  our  daily  life,  and  especially  in  our  ideas  of 
art,  literature  and  philosophy. 

That  a  civilization  so  high  and  beautiful  should  have 
been  attained,  could  hardly  have  been  brought  about 
without  the  presence  of  great  imagination  among  the 
Greeks,  and  the  exercise  of  considerable  invention. 
The  presence  of  both  imagination  and  invention  are 
evidenced  in  every  page  of  the  early  history  of  Greece, 
in  the  stirring  stories  of  her  heroes,  and  in  the  concep- 

51 


52 


INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 


tion  and  development  of  her  government.  Compared 
with  the  stories  of  ancient  Greece,  the  stories  of  the 
childhood  of  every  other  country  seem  unimaginative 
and  tame.  The  stories  of  early  Greece  still  live  and 


Two  Cretan  Vases 

still  have  the  power  to  charm.  The  Iliad  and  Odyssey 
are  in  the  first  rank  of  the  great  poems  even  now;  and 
the  story  of  Helen  and  the  siege  of  Troy  is  as  full  of 
life  and  color  as  any  that  we  know. 

An  interesting  legend  characteristic  of  the  inventive- 
ness of  the  ancient  Greeks  was  that  of  the  large  wooden 
horse  in  which  a  hundred  brave  warriors  concealed 
themselves,  and  were  drawn  within  the  walls  of  Troy 
by  the  Trojans  themselves,  who  had  been  induced  to  do 
this  by  an  ingenious  story,  invented  to  deceive  them. 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  53 

Whether  the  legend  is  true  or  not  does  not  affect  the 
fact  that  invention  was  needed  and  employed  to  create 
the  legend  in  the  one  case,  or  to  cause  the  incident  in 
the  other  case. 

The  prehistoric  age  of  Greece  was  filled  with  myths 
of  so  much  beauty,  interest  and  originality,  that  the 
Greek  mythology  is  more  read,  even  now,  than  any 
other.  It  formed  also  the  basis  of  the  later  mythology 
of  the  Romans. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  mere  imagination  is  not 
a  quality  of  very  high  importance,  unless  it  be  asso- 
ciated with  constructiveness.  In  fact,  imagination  is 
evidenced  more  by  savage  and  barbarous  peoples  than 
by  the  civilized;  as  it  is  also  by  children  and  women 
than  by  men.  Imagination  by  itself,  untrained  and 
undirected,  while  it  is  unquestionably  an  attribute  of 
the  mind,  is  not  one  of  reason,  in  the  sense  that  it 
does  not  necessarily  employ  the  reasoning  faculties. 
In  fact,  the  imagination,  unless  trained  and  well- 
directed,  may  lead  us  to  the  absurdest  performances, 
in  defiance  of  the  suggestions  of  reason.  Using  the 
word  imagination  in  this  sense,  Shakespeare  said — 

"The  lunatic,  the  lover  and  the  poet 
Are  of  imagination  all  compact." 

It  is  only  when  imagination  has  been  assisted  by 
reason,  it  is  only  when  conception  has  been  followed 
by  construction,  that  practical  inventions  have  resulted. 

The  myths  invented  by  the  Greeks  in  their  prehis- 
toric period  were  the  products  of  not  only  imagination 
but  construction.  Each  myth  was  a  perfectly  con- 
nected story,  complete  in  all  necessary  detail,  admira- 
bly put  together,  and  told  in  charming  language.  The 
story  of  Jason's  Argonautic  Expedition  in  search  of  the 
Golden  Fleece  cannot  be  surpassed  in  any  of  the  ele- 
ments that  make  a  story  good ;  Penelope  is  still  the 


54  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

model  of  conjugal  devotion,  and  Achilles  the  ideal 
warrior;  Poseidon,  or  his  Roman  successor,  Neptune, 
still  rules  the  waves;  Aphrodite,  or  Venus,  calls  up 
more  vividly  before  our  minds  than  any  other  name  the 
vision  of  feminine  beauty  even  to  this  day.  Hercules 
exemplifies  muscular  strength,  and  Apollo  still  typifies 
that  which  is  most  beautiful  in  manliness. 

The  influence  of  the  Grecian  myths,  "pure  inven- 
tions" as  they  were,  in  the  sense  that  they  were  fic- 
titious and  not  true,  has  been  explained  and  demon- 
strated at  great  length  and  with  abundant  enthusiasm 
by  poets  and  scholars  for  many  centuries.  They  have 
been  generally  regarded  as  inventions,  but  neverthe- 
less as  quite  different  from  such  inventions  as  the 
steam-engine  or  the  printing  press.  The  present  author 
wishes  to  point  out  that  the  mental  processes  by  which 
both  myths  and  engines  were  created  were  alike,  and 
that  the  inventions  differed  mainly  in  the  uses  to  which 
they  were  put. 

Even  the  uses  to  which  they  were  put  were  similar 
in  the  end;  for  the  use  of  the  myths  and  of  the  steam 
engine  was  to  improve  the  conditions  of  man's  exist- 
ence. There  is  only  one  way  in  which  to  do  this,  and 
that  is  by  improving  the  impressions  made  on  his  mind. 
The  myths  did  this  by  making  beautiful  pictures  for  his 
mind  to  gaze  at,  and  by  using  them  to  induce  him  to 
follow  a  certain  (good)  line  of  conduct,  rather  than 
the  contrary.  The  steam  engine  did  it  by  making  the 
conditions  of  living  more  comfortable,  by  rendering 
transportation  more  safe  and  rapid,  and  by  rendering 
possible  the  procuring  of  many  of  the  pleasant  things 
of  life  from  distant  places. 

The  invention  of  a  myth  may  be  said  to  be  the  in- 
vention of  an  immaterial  thing;  the  invention  of  a  steam 
engine  to  be  of  a  material  thing.  These  two  lines  of 
effort,  invention  has  followed  since  long  before  the 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  55 

dawn  of  history.  Of  the  two,  the  invention  of  myths 
and  stories  probably  succeeded  the  other. 

Probably  also  it  has  been  the  more  important  in 
affecting  our  actual  degree  of  happiness;  affecting  it 
beneficently  in  the  main.  For,  while  some  myths  and 
stories  have  filled  men  with  dread  and  horror,  a  very 
large  majority  have  had  the  opposite  effect;  and  while 
many  mechanical  inventions  have  contributed  to  our 
material  ease  and  comfort,  it  is  not  clear  that  they 
have  much  increased  our  actual  happiness.  Men  ac- 
commodate themselves  easily  to  changes  in  their  ma- 
terial surroundings;  what  is  a  luxury  today  will  be  a 
necessity  tomorrow;  and  very  many  of  the  material 
inventions  have  tended  to  artificial  and  unhealthful 
modes  of  living,  with  consequent  physical  deteriora- 
tion and  its  accompanying  loss  of  happiness. 

As  to  influence  on  history,  however,  the  influence  of 
the  material  inventions  has  probably  been  the  greater. 
Immaterial  inventions  might  have  been  made  in  enor- 
mous numbers  without  of  themselves  affecting  history 
greatly;  but  the  material  inventions  have  brought  about 
most  of  the  events  that  history  describes;  and  without 
one  material  invention,  that  of  writing,  history  could 
not  exist  at  all.  History  is  rather  a  narrative  of  men's 
deeds  than  of  their  thoughts;  and  their  deeds  have  been 
directed  largely  by  the  implements  which  they  had  to 
do  deeds  with. 

We  must  realize,  of  course,  that  the  Greeks  were 
much  indebted  to  the  ^geans;  for  discoveries  about 
the  shores  and  islands  of  the  ^Egean  Sea  show  that 
long  before  the  advent  of  the  Greeks  they  used  tools 
and  weapons  of  rough  and  then  of  polished  stone,  and 
later  of  copper  and  tin  and  bronze;  that  they  lived  on 
farms  and  in  villages  and  cities,  and  were  governed 
by  monarchs  who  dwelt  in  palaces  adorned  with  paint- 
ings and  fine  carvings,  and  filled  with  court  gentlemen 


56  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

and  ladies  who  wore  jewelry  and  fine  clothing. 
Exquisite  pottery  was  used,  decorated  with  taste  and 
skill;  ivory  was  carved  and  gems  were  engraved,  and 
articles  were  made  of  silver  and  bronze  and  gold. 

As  early  as  the  sixth  century  B.  C.,  the  Greeks  made 
things  more  beautiful  than  had  ever  been  made  before. 
One  almost  feels  like  saying  that  the  Greeks  invented 
beauty.  Such  a  declaration  would  be  absurd  of  course : 
but  it  seems  to  be  a  fact  that  the  Greeks  had  a  concep- 
tion of  beauty  that  was  wholly  original  with  them,  and 
that  was  not  only  finer  than  that  which  any  other  peo- 
ple had  ever  had  before,  but  finer  than  any  other  people 
have  had  since.  And  not  only  did  they  have  the  con- 
ception, they  had  the  ability  to  embody  the  conception 
in  material  forms  that  possessed  a  beauty  higher  than 
had  ever  been  produced  before,  and  higher  (at  least 
on  the  average)  than  have  ever  been  produced  in  any 
other  country  since. 

Looked  at  in  this  way,  the  production  of  a  new  and 
beautiful  statue,  painting  or  temple,  seems  to  be  an  act 
of  invention  much  like  the  formulation  of  a  myth  or 
the  writing  of  a  poem.  In  this  sense,  the  Greeks  were 
inventors,  inventors  of  works  of  beauty  that  have  ex- 
isted as  concrete  material  creations  for  centuries,  and 
have  exercised  an  enduring  influence  on  the  minds  of 
men. 

The  influence  of  paintings,  statues  and  temples  is  not 
so  clear  as  that  of  material  inventions,  but  more  clear 
than  that  of  myths  and  poems.  They  may  be  said  to 
form  a  class  midway  between  inventions  of  material 
appliances  and  inventions  of  immaterial  thoughts  and 
fancies.  A  beautiful  painting  or  statue  is  a  material 
object  in  the  same  sense  as  that  in  which  a  steam 
engine  is;  but  its  office  is  to  stimulate  the  mind,  as  a 
poem  does. 

The  first  inventor  of  mechanical  appliances,   men- 


INVENTION    IN   GREECE  57 

tioned  by  name  as  such,  was  Daedalus  of  Athens.  He 
was  probably  a  mythical  person.  He  was  reputed  to 
be  the  son  or  the  grandson  of  Erectheus,  a  probably 
mythical  king.  He  is  credited  with  the  invention  of 
the  saw,  the  gimlet,  the  plumb-line,  the  axe,  the  wedge, 
the  lever,  masts  and  sails  and  even  of  flying; — for  he  is 
said  to  have  escaped  from  Crete  to  Sicily  with  artificial 
wings.  The  story  of  Daedalus,  like  that  of  many  other 
mythological  personages,  is  both  interesting  and  irri- 
tating from  the  mixture  of  the  very  probable,  the 
highly  improbable,  and  the  entirely  impossible,  in  a 
jumble.  But  the  story  of  Daedalus  seems  to  make  it 
probable  that  all  the  things  which  he  is  reported  to 
have  invented  (except  flying)  were  in  use  in  Greece  in 
prehistoric  times. 

As  no  records  show  to  us  that  the  inventions  just 
enumerated  (except  masts  and  sails)  had  been  in- 
vented elsewhere,  we  may  feel  justified  in  inferring  that 
they  were  invented  in  Greece  by  Daedalus,  or  by  some 
other  man  bearing  a  different  name, — or  by  some  other 
men.  The  name  borne  by  the  man  is  not  important 
to  us  now;  but  it  is  important  to  realize  that  such 
brilliant  and  original  inventions  were  made  so  long 
ago  by  a  primeval  people;  especially  since  they  were  of 
a  character  somewhat  different  from  those  invented 
in  Egypt  and  Asia  which  we  have  already  noted.  The 
invention  of  the  gimlet  seems  the  most  brilliant  and 
original  of  those  just  spoken  of;  and  one  marvels  that 
it  should  have  been  invented  at  such  a  time;  for  the 
action  of  the  gimlet  was  a  little  more  complicated  than 
that  of  even  the  balista  or  the  catapult.  It  is  true  that 
the  number  of  parts  was  less,  that  in  fact  there  was 
only  one  part.  But  that  part  turned  around  in  one 
plane,  and  advanced  in  another;  it  was  less  like  any- 
thing that  existed  before  than  the  catapult  was  like  the 
sling,  or  the  balista  was  like  the  cross-bow.  There  was 


58  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

no  immediate  forerunner  of  the  gimlet.  In  other 
words,  the  mental  jump  needed  to  invent  the  gimlet 
was  from  a  base  of  nothing  that  we  can  exactly  specify. 
A  possible  suggestion  for  the  gimlet  was  the  succes- 
sion of  inclined  planes  by  which  one  mounted  to  the  top 
of  an  Assyrian  or  Chaldean  palace;  these  planes  rising 
gradually  on  each  of  the  four  sides,  so  as  to  form  to- 
gether what  might  be  called  a  square  spiral.  It  is 
possible  that  a  circular  spiral  may  have  been  traced 


Insurgent  Captives  Brought  Before  Darius 

later  around  some  cylindrical  shaft  or  column,  and 
given  the  first  suggestion  for  the  screw  or  gimlet.  Of 
course,  a  gimlet  is  a  kind  of  screw. 

The  Greeks  do  not  seem  to  have  applied  their  in- 
ventiveness after  the  time  of  Daedalus  to  mechanical 
appliances,  but  to  works  of  art  and  systems  of  religion 
and  philosophy.  One  of  their  most  important  inven- 
tions may  be  said  to  be  mid-way  between :  it  consisted 
in  adding  vowels  to  the  Phoenician  alphabet  and  pro- 
ducing the  basis  of  the  Latin  and  succeeding  alphabets. 
The  Greeks  were  not  naturally  of  a  warlike  disposi- 
tion, and  their  peculiarly  jealous  temperament  pre- 
vented the  various  states  and  cities  from  combining  and 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  59 

forming  a  great  nation.  Their  energetic  character  and 
great  intellectuality  saved  them,  however,  when  Darius, 
King  of  Persia,  invaded  Greece  in  490  B.  C. 

.  By  that  time  the  Greeks  had  raised  and  trained  an 
army  of  great  excellence.  No  especial  inventiveness 
seems  to  have  been  exercised,  but  the  equipments  of  the 
men,  their  organization,  their  armor,  their  weapons 
and  their  discipline  had  been  brought  to  a  standard 
exceedingly  high.  All  these  advantages  were  needed; 
for  the  Persians  were  a  warlike  people,  their  King 
Darius  was  an  ambitious  and  successful  conqueror,  and 
the  number  of  Persians  that  invaded  Greece  was  far 
greater  than  the  number  that  Greece  could  raise  to 
fight  them. 

Had  the  Greeks  been  destitute  of  invention  they 
would  have  followed  the  most  obvious  course,  that  of 
shutting  themselves  up  inside  the  protection  of  the 
walls  of  Athens.  Had  they  done  this,  the  Persians 
would  have  surrounded  the  city,  shut  them  off  from 
supplies  from  outside,  and  slowly  but  surely  forced 
them  to  surrender. 

But,  on  the  insistent  advice  of  Miltiades,  the  Greeks 
advanced  to  meet  the  Persians,  leaving  the  shelter  of 
their  walls  behind  them.  It  may  not  seem  to  some  that 
Miltiades  made  any  invention  in  planning  the  cam- 
paign which  he  urged  against  much  resistance,  and 
which  the  Athenians  finally  carried  out.  Yet  his  men- 
tal action  was  one  allied  to  that  of  making  an  inven- 
tion; for  his  mind  conceived  a  plan  as  a  purely  mental 
picture,  then  developed  into  a  workable  project,  and 
then  presented  it  as  a  concrete  proposition.  Later, 
when  the  hostile  forces  met  on  the  low  plain  of  Mara- 
thon, Miltiades  rejected  the  obvious  plan  that  an  un- 
inventive  mind  would  have  adopted.  Instead  of  it,  he 
invented  the  plan  of  weakening  his  center,  strengthen- 
ing his  flanks,  and  departing  from  the  usual  custom  of 


60  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

advancing  slowly  against  the  enemy,  in  favor  of  ad- 
vancing on  the  run.  The  plan  (invention)  worked 
perfectly.  The  unsuspecting  Persians  broke  through 
the  center  and  pursued  the  fleeing  Athenians  to  a  rough 
ground; — only  to  be  caught  between  the  two  flanks, 
like  a  nut  in  a  nut-cracker,  and  crushed  to  pieces. 

It  can  hardly  be  seriously  questioned  that  in  this 
plan  Miltiades  showed  the  abilities  of  the  inventor, 
and  in  a  highly  brilliant  and  highly  important  way. 
Had  he  fought  the  battle  in  the  obvious  way,  the  great 
numerical  superiority  of  the  Persians  could  hardly 
have  failed  to  gain  the  victory,  despite  a  really  con- 
siderable superiority  of  the  Athenians  in  training  and 
equipment.  But  the  Persians  were  the  victims  of  a  new 
and  unexpected  kind  of  attack.  A  new  weapon  sud- 
denly brought  to  bear  on  them  would  have  had  a 
similar  effect. 

This  is  the  first  illustration  in  recorded  history  of 
the  influence  of  invention  on  the  deciding  of  a  war. 
Its  influence  was  enormous  in  this  case;  for  the  battle 
of  Marathon  was  one  of  the  most  decisive  and  one  of 
the  most  important  battles  ever  fought.  If  it  had 
been  decided  contrariwise,  Grecian  civilization  would 
have  been  stamped  out,  or  so  completely  stifled  that 
it  would  never  have  risen  to  the  heights  it  afterwards 
attained;  freedom  of  thought  and  government  would 
have  been  smothered,  and  the  world  would  be  im- 
measurably different  now  from  what  it  really  is. 

The  defeat  of  the  Persians  was  so  decisive  that  they 
withdrew  to  their  own  country,  but  with  the  determina- 
tion of  returning,  and  in  overwhelming  force.  By 
reason  of  a  variety  of  circumstances,  including  the 
death  of  the  king,  the  invasion  did  not  take  place  until 
ten  years  later.  Then,  in  the  year  480  B.  C.,  King 
Xerxes  set  out  on  a  punitive  expedition  against  Greece 
with  an  enormous  military  and  naval  force. 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  61 

Again  Greece  was  saved  from  Persia  by  pure  brain 
power,  that  of  Themistocles.  Like  Miltiades,  he  re- 
jected the  obvious.  Discerning,  as  no  one  else  dis- 
cerned, that  the  weakest  point  in  the  Persian  forces 
was  the  line  of  communication  across  the  ^Egean  Sea, 
because  the  ships  of  those  days  were  fragile,  and  an 
invading  army  needed  to  get  supplies  continually  from 
Persia,  he  pointed  out  that  although  it  was  the  Persian 
army  that  would  do  the  actual  damage  in  Greece,  yet 
nevertheless,  the  major  effort  of  the  Athenians  should 
not  be  spent  on  their  army  but  on  their  navy. 

The  difficulties  he  met  in  making  the  Athenians  see 
the  truth  may  easily  be  imagined,  from  experiences  in 
our  own  day.  He  succeeded  at  last,  however;  so  that 
by  the  time  the  Persians  reached  Greece,  Greece  had 
a  fleet  that  was  very  good,  though  not  nearly  so  large 
as  the  Persian.  The  fleets  came  near  to  each  other 
in  the  vicinity  of  Athens.  The  majority  of  the  Athenian 
leaders  advised  that  the  Athenian  fleet  should  retreat 
toward  the  south  and  west,  to  the  isthmus  of  Corinth, 
and  await  the  Persians  there;  because,  if  defeated,  a 
safe  retreat  could  be  effected.  But  Themistocles  op- 
posed this  plan  with  all  the  force  and  eloquence  he  could 
bring  to  bear;  pointing  out  that  the  aim  of  the  Atheni- 
ans should  not  be  to  find  a  safe  line  of  retreat,  but  to  win 
a  battle ;  and  that  the  Bay  of  Salamis  was  the  best  place, 
for  two  reasons.  One  reason  was  that  the  Persians 
would  have  to  enter  the  bay  in  column,  because  the  en- 
trance was  narrow,  and  the  Persian  ships,  as  they  suc- 
cessively passed  into  the  bay,  would  therefore  be  at  a 
great  disadvantage  against  the  combined  attack  of  the 
Athenian  ships,  waiting  for  them  there;  the  other  rea- 
son was  that  the  bay  was  so  small  that  the  great  num- 
bers and  size  of  the  Persian  ships  would  be  a  disad- 
vantage, instead  of  an  advantage.  Themistocles  (not 
without  the  use  of  considerable  diplomacy  and  even 


62  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

subterfuge)  finally  secured  the  assent  of  the  other 
Athenian  leaders.  The  result  was  exactly  what  he 
predicted  that  it  would  be.  The  Persian  fleet  was 
wholly  defeated,  and  Greece  again  was  saved. 

The  great  victory  of  the  Greeks  over  the  Persians 
wrought  a  powerful  stimulation  among  all  the  people, 
especially  in  Athens,  and  was  followed  by  the  most 
extraordinary  intellectual  movement  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  It  lasted  about  a  century  and  a  half;  and 
in  no  other  country,  and  at  no  other  period,  has  so 
much  intellectual  achievement  been  accomplished  by  so 
few  people  in  so  short  a  time. 

Before  the  Persian  wars,  the  Greeks  had  already 
shown  an  extraordinary  originality  in  art  and  litera- 
ture; especially  in  architecture,  sculpture  and  poetry. 
Naturally  these  peaceful  arts  languished  during  the 
wars;  but  after  the  Persian  invaders  had  been  finally 
ejected,  they  rose  with  renewed  vigor,  stimulated  by 
the  patriotic  enthusiasm  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 

It  was  in  Athens,  and  among  the  Athenians  that  most 
of  the  movement  was  carried  on.  The  principal  state 
in  Greece  besides  Athens  then  was  Sparta.  The  Spar- 
tans devoted  themselves  mainly  to  warlike  and  allied 
arts,  while  the  Athenians  devoted  themselves  mainly  to 
the  beautification  of  Athens;  though  they  were  careful 
to  guard  it  adequately  by  maintaining  an  excellent  navy, 
surrounding  the  city  with  high  walls,  and  building  two 
long  parallel  walls  from  Athens  to  Piraeus,  its  seaport. 

It  would  be  out  of  place  in  a  book  like  this  to  at- 
tempt any  description  or  discussion  of  the  various 
phases  of  the  intellectual  activities  that  rose  with  such 
startling  quickness,  and  developed  into  such  important 
movements,  during  the  century  and  a  half  that  fol- 
lowed the  Persian  wars;  especially  as  this  has  already 
been  done  by  many  scholars,  in  many  languages,  and 
at  many  times.  A  very  brief  and  elementary  statement 


INVENTION    IN   GREECE  63 

may,  however,  be  made,  for  the  purpose  of  illustrat- 
ing the  influence  of  invention  on  history. 

The  main  characteristic  of  the  movement  as  a  whole 
and  of  every  one  of  the  various  channels  which  it  fol- 
lowed, was  originality.  No  such  perception  of  beauty 
had  ever  been  evidenced  before ;  no  such  conceptions 
of  logic,  philosophy  or  science. 

Accompanying  these  was  a  conception  of  free  gov- 
ernment equally  original.  Whether  the  government  of 
Athens  was  the  cause  of  the  intellectual  rise,  or  the  in- 
tellectual rise  was  the  cause  of  the  government,  may 
safely  be  left  to  scholars  to  debate;  for  the  purposes  of 
the  present  discussion,  it  seems  sufficient  that  they  co- 
existed and  had  together  a  powerful  influence  on 
history. 

The  greatest  genius  that  guided  the  intellectual 
forces  of  the  Athenians  in  the  matter  of  government 
was  that  of  Pericles,  who  ruled  their  minds  by  pure 
force  of  argument  and  persuasion,  from  about  445  to 
43 1  B.  C.  Athens  and  her  subject  cities  formed  a  vir- 
tual empire,  small  in  extent,  but  powerful  in  influence; 
though  in  form  it  was  a  democracy.  In  some  ways  it 
was  the  most  perfect  democracy  that  ever  has  existed 
even  to  this  day;  for  not  only  was  every  citizen  avail- 
able for  office,  but  he  was  expected  to  take  active  part 
in  deciding  public  measures,  and  to  be  really  qualified 
to  hold  office. 

This  idea  was  put  into  practical  operation  by  a  care- 
ful system  of  payment  for  every  public  service;  to  the 
end  that  even  the  poorest  citizen  should  be  enabled  to 
hold  office,  and  a  wealthy  office-holding  caste  prevented 
from  existing.  To  so  great  an  extent  was  this  carried 
out  that,  by  the  time  that  the  Age  of  Pericles  ceased 
and  the  Peloponnesian  War  began,  almost  every  citizen 
was  in  the  pay  of  the  state.  The  perfect  equality  of  all 
the  citizens,  and  their  community  of  interests  and  priv- 


64  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ileges,  was  recognized  by  supplying  them  at  times  with 
free  tickets  to  places  of  amusement,  and  by  banqueting 
the  people  on  great  occasions  at  the  expense  of  the 
state.  To  distribute  widely  the  powers  and  duties  of 
citizenship,  exceedingly  large  juries  were  established 
for  the  trials  of  all  cases.  There  was  no  king  or  presi- 
dent or  prime  minister.  The  source  of  authority  was 
the  Assembly  which  included  every  citizen  over  eighteen 
years  of  age,  and  held  forty  meetings  a  year.  Co- 
operating, as  a  sort  of  committee,  was  a  Council  of 
Five  Hundred,  whose  members  were  chosen  by  lot  each 
year  from  citizens  over  thirty  years  of  age. 

The  success  of  the  Athenian  democracy  has  had  a 
powerful  influence  ever  since  on  history;  because  it  has 
supplied  not  only  a  precedent  but  an  encouragement  to 
every  people  to  try  to  escape  from  the  individual  re- 
strictions that  monarchies  and  all  ustrong  govern- 
ments"  tend  to  impose.  But  it  had  another  though 
less  powerful  influence  also,  which  continued  for  a  long 
while,  but  now  has  ceased,  in  supplying  a  precedent  for 
slavery.  For  while  the  citizens  of  Athens  were  free, 
only  the  sons  of  Athenian  fathers  and  Athenian  moth- 
ers could  be  citizens ;  many  thousand  workers  and  mer- 
chants of  all  kinds  could  take  no  part  in  the  govern- 
ment, and  there  were  besides  an  enormous  number  of 
slaves.  It  was  to  a  great  degree  the  fact  of  slavery 
that  made  possible  the  success  of  the  so-called  Athenian 
democracy;  for  it  liberated  the  citizens  in  very  great 
measure  from  the  drudgery  of  life,  and  gave  them 
leisure  to  devote  themselves  to  the  study  of  govern- 
ment and  the  arts. 

In  addition,  Athens  acquired  great  wealth  from  the 
spoils  of  its  wars  and  the  tribute  of  its  subject  states. 
This  wealth  was  expended  largely  in  the  beautifying 
of  Athens,  and  in  the  consequent  encouragement  and 
opportunity  to  artists  of  all  kinds.  Naturally,  the  art 


INVENTION    IN   GREECE  65 

most  immediately  encouraged  was  that  of  architecture; 
and  that  the  encouragement  met  with  ready  and  great 
success  the  most  beautiful  ruins  in  the  world  superbly 
testify.  The  directing  genius  in  this  work  and  in  all 
the  others  was  Pericles,  who  stimulated  the  Athenians 
with  his  conception  and  description  of  a  city  worthy  to 
symbolize  the  power  and  glory  of  the  empire.  The 
twin  arts  of  architecture  and  sculpture  worked  to- 
gether and  in  harmony;  and  a  city  more  beautiful  than 
ever  known  before,  or  ever  known  since,  testified  to 
the  soundness  and  brilliancy  of  the  conception  and  to 
the  constructive  ability  of  the  Athenians  to  embody  it 
in  material  form. 

The  poets  and  scholars  kept  pace  with  the  states- 
men and  the  architects  and  the  sculptors;  but  the  phi- 
losophers surpassed  them  all.  For,  while  the  success- 
ful democracy  of  Athens  is  a  model  still,  and  while 
the  Parthenon  and  the  statue  of  Apollo  are  models  still, 
yet  an  integral  part  of  the  system  of  government  (sla- 
very) has  been  abjured  by  the  civilized  world,  and  the 
temples  and  the  statues  have  been  for  the  pleasure  of 
but  a  few;  while  the  teachings  of  the  philosophers  have 
been  the  basis  on  which  has  rested  ever  since  much  of 
the  intellectual  progress  of  mankind. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that,  as  men  have  progressed 
up  the  steep  road  to  civilization,  the  only  guides  they 
have  had  have  been  men  who  have  not  themselves 
passed  over  the  road  before,  and  whose  only  qualifica- 
tion as  guides  has  lain  in  some  attribute  of  the  mind 
that  enabled  them  to  survey  the  road  a  little  farther 
ahead  than  the  others  could,  and  to  point  out  the  paths 
to  take,  and  the  obstructions  to  avoid.  Man's  physical 
instincts  guide  him  considerably  as  to  the  methods  to 
preserve  his  physical  existence;  but  they  help  him  not 
at  all  to  lift  himself  above  his  physical  self,  and  in 
many  ways  they  hinder  him.  It  seems  to  be  the  office 


66  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

of  the  mind  both  to  discern  the  upward  paths  and  to 
stimulate  the  will  to  overcome  the  difficulties  and  dan- 
gers in  the  way. 

Of  the  great  pointers  of  the  way,  Socrates,  Plato, 
Aristotle  and  others,  it  might  be  deemed  presumptuous 
of  the  present  author  to  do  more  than  speak;  and  of 
the  great  stimulators,  ^Eschuylus,  Sophocles,  Euripedes, 
Herodotus,  Thucydides,  Xenophon,  and,  above  all, 
Demosthenes  as  well.  But  because  it  is  pertinent  to 
our  subject  it  is  instructive  for  us  to  note  that  the  main 
distinctive  feature  of  the  work  of  each  was  originality. 
It  is  true  that  it  is  the  completed  work  in  the  case  of 
each  that  meets  our  gaze ;  it  is  true  that  the  superficial 
impression  would  be  the  same,  even  if  each  work  had 
been  a  copy  of  some  work  that  had  gone  before;  in  the 
same  way  that,  superficially,  many  a  copy  of  an  oil 
painting  is  as  good  as  the  original.  But  from  the 
standpoint  of  influence  on  the  future,  it  is  the  originator 
rather  than  the  copyist  who  wields  the  influence;  just 
as  it  is  the  basic  inventor  of  a  mechanical  appliance 
rather  than  the  man  who  improves  upon  it. 

The  Athenians  and  Spartans  became  involved  in  the 
Peloponnesian  War,  that  lasted  from  431  to  404  B.  C., 
and  ended  with  the  capture  of  Athens.  The  Spartans 
thereupon  became  dominant  in  Greece,  but  only  to  be 
mastered  by  the  Thebans  in  371  B.  C.  The  little  jeal- 
ous states  of  Greece  were  never  able  to  agree  together 
long,  and  no  one  state  was  ever  able  to  unite  them.  But 
the  half-barbarian  people  of  Macedonia,  under  Philip 
their  king,  after  developing  their  army,  according  to  a 
novel  system  invented  by  him,  overcame  and  then 
united  under  their  sway  the  highly  cultured  but  now 
military  weak  states  that  had  despised  them. 

Possibly,  it  would  somewhat  strain  the  meaning  of 
the  word  invention,  to  declare  that  Philip  made  a  radi- 
cally new  invention,  when  he  improved  on  the  Theban 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  67 

phalanx,  and  devised  his  system  of  military  training; 
for  kings  and  other  leaders  had  trained  armies  long 
before  Philip  lived,  and  Philip  departed  only  in  what 
some  might  call  detail  from  the  methods  that  had  been 
used  before.  But,  at  the  same  time,  it  was  an  act,  or  a 
series  of  acts,  betokening  great  initiative  and  origi- 
nality, for  a  man  ruling  a  weak  collection  of  tribes  such 
as  dwelt  in  Macedon,  to  create  out  of  such  crude  ma- 
terial as  he  began  with,  such  an  extraordinary  army  as 
he  ultimately  was  able  to  lead  to  battle.  To  accom- 
plish this  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  conceive  the  idea 
of  doing  it,  then  to  embody  his  conception  in  a  formu- 
lated plan,  and  then  bring  forth  the  finished  product. 
The  thought  of  doing  it  must  have  come  to  him : — how 
else  could  he  get  it?  An  idea  comes  from  outside 
through  the  mental  eye  to  the  mind;  as  a  ray  of  light 
comes  from  outside  through  the  physical  eye  to  the 
retina. 

The  picture  made  on  Philip's  mind  must  have  im- 
pressed him  profoundly,  for  he  spent  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  giving  it  ua  local  habitation  and  a  name."  To 
accomplish  it  cost  him  years  of  continual  effort  of  many 
kinds,  but  he  did  accomplish  it.  He  did,  as  a  result, 
produce  a  machine,  as  truly  a  machine  as  Stephenson 
ever  produced,  but  made  up  of  many  more  parts;  each 
part  independent  of  any  other,  and  yet  dependent  on 
every  other,  and  all  working  together,  for  a  common 
purpose. 

Let  us  remind  ourselves  again  that  a  machine  com- 
posed of  inanimate  parts  only  is  only  one  kind  of  ma- 
chine; for  a  machine  may  be  composed  of  animate 
parts,  or  inanimate  parts,  or  of  parts  of  which  some 
are  animate  and  some  inanimate.  Clearly,  it  makes  no 
difference,  so  far  as  the  act  of  invention  goes,  whether 
a  man  uses  animate  or  inanimate  parts;  the  essential 
of  invention  is  the  creation  of  a  new  thing.  If  a  man 


68  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

merely  puts  two  pieces  of  wood  and  a  piece  of  string 
into  a  pile,  or  if  he  merely  collects  a  number  of  men 
together,  no  invention  is  made  and  nothing  is  created. 
But  if  he  so  combines  the  two  pieces  of  wood  and  the 
string  as  to  make  a  bow  and  arrow;  or  if  he  combines 
a  modified  Theban  phalanx  with  masses  of  cavalry  and 
catapults  in  a  novel  and  effective  way  as  Philip  did, 
invention  is  exercised  and  something  is  created. 

Before  Philip's  time  a  phalanx  was  used  to  bear 
the  brunt  of  the  battle,  and  to  overwhelm  the  enemy 
by  mere  strength  and  force;  as  the  Thebans  did  at 
Leuctra  and  Mantinea.  But  Philip  conceived  the  idea 
of  merely  holding  the  enemy  with  his  phalanx  assisted 
by  the  catapults,  and  hurling  his  cavalry  against  their 
flanks.  Philip's  army,  as  Philip  used  it,  was  a  machine 
and  a  very  powerful  one:- — each  part  independent  of 
every  other,  yet  dependent  on  every  other — all  the 
parts  working  together  for  a  common  purpose.  Philip 
conceived  the  idea  of  making  this  machine,  and  after- 
wards made  it;  just  as  Ericsson  more  than  two  thou- 
sand years  later  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  "Moni- 
tor" and  afterwards  made  it. 

By  means  of  his  machine  Philip  defeated  the  Greeks 
at  Cheronea  in  the  year  338  B.  C.,  just  as  Ericsson  by 
means  of  his  machine  defeated  the  Merrlmac  at  New- 
port News  in  the  year  1862  A.  D.,  exactly  twenty-two 
centuries  later.  The  two  machines  differed,  it  is  true. 
Yet  they  did  not  differ  so  much  as  one  might  unthink- 
ingly suppose;  for  each  machine  was  made  up  of  parts, 
of  which  some  were  animate  and  some  were  not;  and 
in  each  machine  every  part,  animate  or  inanimate, 
cooperated  with  all  the  others;  and  all  cooperated 
together,  to  carry  out  the  inventor's  purpose,  the  de- 
struction of  the  enemy. 

The  influence  of  Philip's  invention  began  before 
Philip  died,  and  it  continues  to  this  day.  For  after 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  69 

Philip's  death,  his  son  Alexander  put  it  to  work  at  once 
on  the  task  of  subduing  thoroughly  all  of  Greece,  and 
then  subduing  Asia. 

The  influence  of  the  machine  in  subduing  even 
Greece  alone  must  not  be  regarded  lightly;  not  so  much 
because  Greece  was  subdued,  as  because  the  various 
little  states  were  by  that  means  brought  together;  and 
because  it  illustrates  the  fact  that  without  a  machine, 
no  great  number  of  people  can  work  together.  It  was 
because  of  the  absence  of  any  machine  that  the  Grecian 
states  acted  separately  and  antagonistically,  instead  of 
in  cooperation. 

After  subduing  Greece,  Alexander  took  his  machine 
across  the  Hellespont,  in  the  year  334  B.  C.,  to  try  it 
on  the  Persian  troops  in  Asia  Minor.  The  machine 
worked  so  successfully  at  a  battle  on  the  Granicus  that 
Alexander  took  it  south,  and  with  its  aid  was  able  to 
conquer  all  of  Asia  Minor  in  about  a  year. 

It  may  be  objected  that  it  is  not  correct  to  attribute 
all  of  Alexander's  success  to  the  excellence  of  his  ma- 
chine; and  this  objection  would  have  great  force  and 
receive  the  approval  of  most  people,  for  the  reason 
that,  in  most  histories,  the  main  credit  is  given  to  the 
energy  of  Alexander  and  the  courage  of  his  troops; — 
though  the  excellence  of  the  training  and  organization 
bequeathed  by  Philip  is  admitted. 

To  this  hypothetical  objection  the  answer  may  be 
made  that  the  ultimate  result  was  due  to  both  the  ma- 
chine and  the  excellence  with  which  it  was  operated; 
that  is,  to  the  product  of  what  the  machine  could  do 
if  it  were  used  with  perfect  skill  and  the  percentage  of 
skill  with  which  it  was  actually  used.  This  statement 
is,  of  course,  true  of  all  machines  and  instruments,  as 
the  author  has  often  pointed  out,  in  articles  and 
addresses. 

In  the  case  of  Alexander  and  his  army,  the  percentage 


70  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

of  skill,  of  course,  was  high;  but  Alexander  and  each 
one  of  his  soldiers  was  only  a  part  of  the  machine ;  and 
even  their  skill  was  part  of  the  machine  in  the  sense 
that  it  was  a  characteristic  included  in  the  original  de- 
sign of  Philip.  In  other  words,  we  should  not  fall  into 
the  error  of  dissociating  the  skill  of  Alexander  and  his 
soldiers  from  the  machine  itself;  because  it  was  part  of 
Philip's  invention  that  the  training  should  produce  that 
skill.  The  system  of  training  was  part  of  the  in- 
vention. 

It  is  true,  however,  and  exceedingly  important,  that 
the  degree  of  skill  which  Alexander  brought  to  bear 
personally  was  far  in  excess  of  what  any  system  of 
training  could  possibly  produce.  When  we  read  of  the 
amazing  victories  that  Alexander  made  over  superior 
forces  of  highly  trained  warriors,  we  see  that  Philip 
of  Macedon  should  not  be  given  all  the  credit;  that 
the  genius  of  Philip  of  Macedon  was  not  the  only 
genius  contributing  to  the  result.  We  see  that  genius 
of  some  kind  directed  the  decisions  of  Alexander. 
What  were  the  characteristics  of  that  genius? 

Courage?  Yes;  history  tells  of  no  one  possessing 
higher  courage,  both  physical  and  moral,  than  Alex- 
ander. Not  only  was  he  physically  brave,  not  only  did 
he  dare  physical  danger  of  many  kinds,  and  on  many 
occasions,  but  he  was  morally  brave ;  he  did  not  shirk 
responsibility;  he  did  not  fear  to  take  enormous  risks; 
he  did  not  hesitate  to  reject  advice,  even  the  advice  of 
his  most  experienced  and  able  generals;  he  was  will- 
ing to  stake  everything,  sometimes,  on  the  success  of 
some  wholly  untried  expedient  of  his  own  devising. 

But  does  mere  courage,  even  of  so  many  kinds — and 
even  if  it  be  added  to  trained  skill  and  the  possession  of 
an  admirable  machine — do  they  all  together  explain 
the  amazing  successes  of  Alexander?  No.  What  does 
explain  them? 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  71 

Genius?  Yes,  but  the  word  genius  is  only  a  word, 
and  explains  nothing;  for  the  reason  that  no  one  knows 
what  the  word  genius  means.  It  is  merely  a  label  that 
we  attach  to  a  man  who  is  able  to  do  things  that  other 
men  cannot  do.  But  granting  that  the  possession  of 
"genius"  is  an  explanation  of  Alexander's  being  able  to 
accomplish  what  he  did,  in  what  way  did  that  genius 
operate  ?  in  what  way  did  it  help  him  to  win  so  many 
victories  and  extricate  himself  from  so  many  perilous 
situations? 

By  inventing  methods  and  devising  schemes  and  im- 
provising plans  that  an  uninventive  man  would  not  have 
thought  of.  The  story  of  the  Gordian  knot  may  or 
may  not  be  true;  but  it  seems  credible,  because  it  was 
exactly  the  kind  of  a  thing  that  Alexander  might  have 
been  expected  to  do  in  such  an  emergency.  Posing  as  a 
great  conqueror,  he  was  (according  to  the  legend)  sud- 
denly confronted  with  the  untying  of  a  knot,  the  suc- 
cessful accomplishment  of  which  would  make  him  mas- 
ter of  Asia.  He  realized  that  he  could  not  untie  it. 
Any  man  but  a  man  like  Alexander  would  have  tried 
it  and  acknowledged  failure,  or  have  declined  to  try  it: 
placing  himself  in  a  defensive  position  in  either  case. 
But  Alexander  draws  his  sword  and  cuts  the  knot  in 
two,  thereby  accomplishing  whatever  the  untying  of 
the  knot  would  have  accomplished,  but  in  an  unexpected 
way.  Alexander's  victories  and  escapes  from  perilous 
positions  were  largely  accomplished  by  unexpected 
measures. 

But  Alexander  showed  his  inventive  ability  before  he 
invaded  Persia;  in  his  very  first  campaign  undertaken 
to  subdue  a  revolt  in  Thessaly  immediately  after  he 
ascended  to  the  throne.  The  Thessalians  opposed  him 
in  a  narrow  defile.  An  ordinary  man  would  have 
thought,  as  the  Thessalians  did,  that  he  was  check- 
mated. But  Alexander  conceived  and  executed  the  in- 


72  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

genious  scheme  of  cutting  a  new  road  up  the  steep  side 
of  the  mountain,  leading  his  army  along  that  road,  and 
suddenly  threatening  the  Thessalians  in  their  helpless 
rear.  Shortly  afterward  in  Thrace  he  reached  a  defile 
in  the  mountains  which  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
pass,  but  which  he  found  defended  by  a  force  that  had 
stationed  a  number  of  war-chariots  at  the  top,  to  be 
rolled  down  on  the  Macedonians.  Alexander  imme- 
diately ordered  his  infantry  to  advance  up  the  path 
and  to  open  their  ranks  whenever  possible  to  let  the 
chariots  rush  through;  but  when  that  could  not  be 
done  to  fall  on  their  knees  and  hold  their  shields  to- 
gether as  a  sort  of  roof  on  which  the  chariots  would 
slide,  and  from  which  they  would  roll  off.  This  amaz- 
ing story  is  supposed  to  be  true ;  and  it  is  said  to  have 
succeeded  perfectly. 

Not  long  afterward  Alexander  had  to  cross  the 
Danube  with  his  army  and  all  their  equipments  and 
attack  a  force  of  barbarians  on  the  farther  bank.  This 
he  saw  he  could  not  do  by  the  use  of  any  means  avail- 
able of  an  ordinary  kind.  Nothing  daunted,  he  con- 
ceived and  executed  the  scheme  of  floating  his  equip- 
ments across  at  night  in  floats  made  of  tent  skins,  filled 
with  hay. 

The  next  clear  example  that  we  find  of  Alexander's 
inventiveness  was  when  he  undertook  the  siege  of  Tyre. 
Tyre  stood  on  an  island  of  Phoenicia  in  the  extreme 
eastern  end  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  It  was  sur- 
rounded with  a  wall,  very  thick  and  very  high,  and  was 
separated  from  the  shore  by  half  a  mile  of  deep  water. 
To  capture  such  a  place  was  no  small  undertaking  for  a 
man  who  had  no  ships.  But  Alexander  conceived  and 
executed  a  scheme  that  worked  successfully.  In  accord- 
ance with  that  scheme,  he  built  a  causeway  that  ex- 
tended from  the  shore  out  toward  the  island  on  which 
Tyre  stood.  Naturally,  the  Tyrians  obstructed  his 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  73 

efforts  by  sending  fireships  against  him  and  firing  pro- 
jectiles; and  these  tactics  became  more  and  more 
effective  as  the  causeway  approached  the  city.  Then 
Alexander  visited  some  of  the  jealous  neighbors  of 
Tyre  that  had  submitted  to  him,  and  secured  a  fleet  of 
some  eighty  ships;  and  these  he  led,  as  the  admiral 
commanding,  against  the  Tyrian  harbor. 

By  this  time,  the  causeway  was  well  protected  with 
catapults  and  war-engines  of  various  kinds,  and  had 
been  carried  close  up  to  the  island.  Yet  little  actual 
damage  could  be  done  to  Tyre,  because  of  the  height 
and  thickness  of  the  walls,  and  because  Alexander's 
galleys  that  he  had  equipped  with  war-engines  could 
not  get  close  enough,  by  reason  of  large  boulders  un- 
der water.  Alexander  then  equipped  certain  galleys 
with  windlasses  to  root  up  the  boulders,  the  galleys 
being  fitted  with  chain  cables  to  prevent  divers  from 
cutting  them.  Tyre  was  soon  afterwards  reduced  to  a 
purely  passive  defense  and  consequent  surrender. 

The  story  of  the  siege  of  Tyre,  if  read  in  the  light 
of  the  conditions  of  the  comparative  barbarism  of  the 
world  in  those  days,  is  a  record  of  inventiveness,  on  the 
part  of  Alexander,  so  convincing  and  complete,  as  to 
entitle  Alexander  to  a  place  in  the  first  rank  among 
the  inventors  of  our  race. 

Shortly  afterward  Alexander  reached  the  town  of 
Gaza,  the  great  stronghold  of  the  Philistines.  It  stood 
on  high  ground,  and  was  more  than  two  miles  from  the 
sea.  Alexander's  engineers  reported  to  him  that,  as 
the  fleet  could  not  assist  them,  and  as  the  walls  were 
themselves  very  high  and  stood  on  a  high  hill,  the 
walls  could  never  be  stormed.  Things  looked  serious. 
They  were  serious;  and  failure  would  then  have  come 
to  any  man,  except  a  man  like  Alexander.  He  cut  the 
Gordian  knot  by  ordering  that  ramparts  be  thrown  up 
as  high  as  the  top  of  the  walls,  and  war  engines  placed 


74  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

on  the  ramparts.  This  was  done,  and  the  city  was 
taken. 

Alexander's  campaigns  in  Egypt,  and  afterward  in 
western  Asia,  were  characterized  by  the  same  quick- 
ness and  daring,  both  in  conception  and  in  execution, 
that  had  marked  his  opening  campaigns  in  Greece. 
Later,  when  advancing  toward  Persia,  he  encountered 
a  tribe  of  hillsmen  in  the  Uxian  Pass,  who,  like  the 
Thessalians  and  the  Thracians,  thought  they  had 
blocked  his  passage  by  opposing  him  in  so  narrow  a 
defile.  Alexander  literally  "circumvented"  them  by 
making  a  night  march  over  a  -difficult  mountain  pass, 
and  astonishing  them  by  an  attack  on  their  rear  the 
following  morning.  Shortly  afterward  a  like  situation 
presented  itself,  when  an  army  opposed  him  in  a  nar- 
row defile  called  the  Persian  Gates,  that  was  fortified 
with  a  wall.  Alexander  soon  realized  that  the  position 
of  his  enemy  was  impregnable.  He  learned,  however, 
that  there  was  a  path  that  led  around  the  pass,  though 
it  was  exceedingly  dangerous,  particularly  to  men  in 
armor  and  to  horses,  and  especially  at  that  time,  when 
snow  and  ice  were  on  the  ground.  He  again  utilized 
his  former  invention  (circumvention)  and  with  his 
former  success;  though  the  conditions  under  which  it 
was  accomplished  were  much  more  difficult. 

The  four  examples  just  given  of  literally  circum- 
venting an  uninventive  enemy  illustrate  in  the  simplest 
form  the  influence  of  invention  on  military  history. 

After  it  became  clear  to  Alexander  that  his  invasion 
of  Asia  would  be  successful  from  a  military  point  of 
view,  his  active  imagination  presented  to  his  mind  a 
picture  of  a  grand  and  noble  empire,  embracing  the 
whole  world,  but  dominated  and  inspired  by  the  spirit 
of  the  civilization  of  Greece.  To  develop  this  con- 
ception into  an  actual  reality,  became  at  once  the  object 
of  his  efforts.  To  develop  it,  he  decided  to  adopt  in 


INVENTION    IN   GREECE  75 

some  measure  the  characteristics  and  dress  of  the  peo- 
ple in  whatever  province  he  might  be,  and  to  take  such 
steps  in  organizing  provinces,  founding  cities  and  estab- 
lishing systems,  as  to  weld  all  into  one  empire,  under 
himself,  as  ruler.  One  can  hardly  credit  the  authori- 
tative account  he  reads  of  Alexander's  bewildering 
success.  He  seems  not  only  to  have  won  battles,  and 
built  cities,  and  organized  provinces,  but  actually  to 
have  super-posed  Greek  civilization  on  Persian  civili- 
zation! 

In  one  of  his  most  important  later  battles,  Alexander 
again  utilized  his  inventiveness.  If  he  had  not  done 
so,  he  would  assuredly  have  lost  the  battle.  It  was 
against  King  Porus  in  northwestern  India.  Alexander 
found  the  forces  of  Porus  encamped  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Hydaspes  River,  with  the  evident  intention 
of  preventing  him  from  crossing.  As  the  army  of 
Porus  in  men  alone  was  evidently  equal  to  his  own, 
and  as  it  was  reinforced  with  a  multitude  of  elephants, 
Alexander  was  apparently  confronted  with  a  problem 
impossible  of  solution.  It  would  have  been  impossible 
to  anyone  but  a  man  like  Alexander.  He,  however, 
by  means  of  various  feints  and  ingenious  stratagems, 
managed  to  get  across  at  night  about  sixteen  miles  up 
the  river,  using  boats  that  he  had  constructed,  and 
floats  of  skin  stuffed  with  straw.  Porus  took  up  a 
position  on  the  opposite  shore  and  made  ready  to  re- 
ceive attack,  his  front  preceded  by  war  chariots  and 
elephants.  Alexander  had  neither;  but  he  did  have 
brains  and  originality.  So  he  simply  held  the  enemy 
with  his  infantry,  and  then  made  a  determined  attack 
with  cavalry  and  archers  on  the  enemy's  left  flank,  and 
especially  on  the  elephants.  The  elephants  soon  got 
beyond  control;  and  the  rest  of  the  battle  was  a  fight 
between  a  highly  trained  Macedonian  phalanx,  assisted 
by  cavalry,  and  an  Oriental  mob. 


76  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Alexander  died  in  Babylon  when  not  quite  thirty- 
three  years  old.  In  actual  and  immediate  achievement 
he  surpassed  perhaps  every  other  man  who  has  ever 
lived.  He  founded  an  empire  which  he  himself  had 
conceived  and  developed,  which  covered  nearly  all  the 
then  known  world,  and  which,  though  it  was  com- 
posed mainly  of  barbarous  and  semi-barbarous  peo- 
ple, was  dominated  by  Greek  thought.  It  is  true  that 
the  empire  fell  apart  almost  immediately  after  Alex- 
ander died.  But  it  did  not  fall  into  anarchy,  or  revert 
to  its  previous  state:  it  was  divided  into  four  parts, 
each  of  which  was  distinct,  self-governing  and  well 
organized.  The  two  larger  parts,  the  kingdom  of 
the  Seleucidae,  which  occupied  approximately  the  ter- 
ritory of  Persia,  and  the  kingdom  of  the  Ptolomies,  or 
Egypt,  continued  as  torch-bearers  to  civilization  for 
many  centuries  thereafter. 

Of  the  two,  the  former  was  the  larger  and  was 
probably  the  better,  from  an  administrative  point  of 
view;  but  Egypt  represented  the  finer  civilization;  for 
Alexandria,  with  its  library  and  its  wonderful  museum, 
became  the  seat  of  learning  and  the  resort  of  the 
scholars  of  the  world,  and  the  centre  of  the  Hellenistic 
civilization  that  followed  that  of  Greece. 

This  Hellenistic  civilization,  it  may  here  be  pointed 
out,  was  in  some  respects  as  fine  as  that  of  Greece,  and 
in  some  respects  was  finer,  because  it  was  more  mature. 
But  (perhaps  for  the  reason  that  it  was  more  mature) 
it  lacked  much  of  the  element  that  was  the  highest  in 
the  Greek,  the  element  that  gave  Greek  civilization 
greater  influence  on  history  than  any  other  civilization 
ever  had — the  creative  element.  The  creative  period 
of  Greece  ceased  when  her  political  liberty  was  lost. 
Furthermore,  the  immense  amount  of  wealth  that 
poured  into  the  Grecian  cities  and  the  Graeco-Oriental 
world,  by  reason  of  the  putting  into  circulation  of  gold 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE 


77 


that  had  been  stored  away  in  Oriental  palaces,  as  well 
as  by  the  commercial  exploitation  of  the  riches  of  the 
East,  brought  about  a  general  effeminizing  of  all  classes 
of  society,  and  the  consequent  dulling  of  their  minds. 

Nevertheless,  there  was  great  intellectual  activity  in 
the  Graeco-Oriental  world,  and  a  certain  measure  of 


The  Lighthouse  of  the  Harbor  of  Alexandria  in  the 
Hellenistic  Age 

invention,  though  little  was  of  a  basic  kind.  Euclid 
improved  the  science  of  geometry,  and  put  it  in  vir- 
tually the  same  shape  as  that  in  which  it  has  been 
taught  since,  even  to  this  day.  Aristarchus,  the  as- 
tronomer, announced  the  doctrine  that  the  earth  re- 
volves around  the  sun  and  rotates  on  its  own  axis ;  and 
Hipparchus  invented  the  plan  of  fixing  the  positions 
of  places  on  the  earth  by  their  latitudes  north  and 
south  of  the  Equator  and  their  longitude  east  or  west 
of  a  designated  meridian.  Hippocrates  and  Galen  con- 
ceived and  developed  the  foundations  of  the  science 
of  medicine  of  the  present  day.  Eratosthenes  esti- 


78  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

mated  with  extraordinary  accuracy  the  circumference 
of  the  earth,  and  founded  the  science  of  geography. 

But  the  greatest  of  all  of  the  original  workers  of 
that  time  was  Archimedes,  who  lived  at  Syracuse  in 
Sicily,  and  was  killed  by  mistake  when  Syracuse  was 
captured  in  the  year  212  B.  C.,  while  engaged  in  draw- 
ing a  geometrical  figure  on  the  sand.  His  principal 
fame  is  as  a  mathematician;  but  as  a  great  inventor  of 
mechanical  appliances,  he  is  the  first  man  recognized 
as  such  in  history.  The  invention  with  which  his  name 
is  most  frequently  linked  is  that  of  the  Archimedean 
screw.  This  consisted  of  a  tube,  wound  spirally 
around  an  inclined  axle,  and  so  disposed  that  when  the 
lower  end  of  the  tube  was  dipped  into  water  and  the 
axle  was  rotated  water  would  rise  in  the  tube — as 
shavings  do  when  a  screw  is  screwed  down  into  wood. 
It  constituted  a  very  convenient  pump  and  was  so  used. 
This  was,  of  course,  a  mechanical  invention  of  the 
utmost  originality  and  value,  and  forms  one  of  the 
clearly  defined  stepping-stones  to  civilization. 

There  seems  to  be  a  belief  in  the  minds  of  some 
that  Archimedes  was  the  inventor  of  the  lever.  The 
lever  was,  of  course,  invented  long  before  he  lived; 
but  the  laws  of  its  operation  and  the  principle  that 
the  weight  on  each  side  of  the  fulcrum,  multiplied  by 
its  distance  from  the  fulcrum,  is  equal  to  the  weight 
on  the  other  side,  multiplied  by  its  distance  (when  the 
lever  is  in  equilibrium),  seems  to  have  been  established 
by  him. 

Many  stories  are  told  of  his  exploits  when  Syracuse 
was  besieged  by  the  Romans,  but  they  are  rather  vague. 
The  best  known  story  is  that  he  arranged  a  great  many 
mirrors  in  such  a  way  that  he  concentrated  so  many 
rays  of  sunlight  on  some  Roman  ships  that  they  took 
fire.  Whether  this  is  true  or  not  is  not  definitely 
known;  but  many  centuries  later  Buff  on,  the  French 


INVENTION    IN    GREECE  79 

scientist,  made  an  arrangement  of  plane  mirrors  with 
which  he  set  fire  to  wood  200  feet  away. 

The  greatest  single  exploit  of  Archimedes  was  his 
discovery  and  demonstration  of  the  hydrostatic  prin- 
ciple that  the  weight  of  liquid  displaced  by  a  body 
floating  in  it  is  equal  to  that  of  the  body.  The  story 
is  that  the  king  gave  him  the  apparently  impossible 
task  of  determining  the  quantity  of  gold  and  the 
quantity  of  silver  in  a  certain  gold  coin,  in  making 
which  the  king  suspected  the  workmen  of  stealing  part 
of  the  gold  and  substituting  silver.  Pondering  this 
subject  later  while  lying  in  his  bath,  Archimedes  sud- 
denly realized  that  his  body  displaced  a  bulk  of  water 
equal  to  that  part  of  his  body  that  was  immersed,  and 
conceived  the  consequent  law;  and  the  conception  was 
so  startling  and  so  vivid  that  he  rushed  unclad  out  into 
the  street  crying,  "I  have  found  it,  I  have  found  it." 

The  story  as  a  story  may  not  be  exactly  true;  but 
if  Archimedes  had  realized  the  full  purport  and  the 
never-ending  result  of  his  conception,  he  would  prob- 
ably have  done  something  even  more  eccentric  than 
he  did. 

Archimedes  esteemed  mechanical  inventions  as 
greatly  inferior  in  value  to  those  speculations  and 
demonstrations  that  convince  the  mind,  and  consid- 
ered that  his  chief  single  work  was  discovering  the 
mathematical  relation  between  a  sphere  and  a  cylinder 
just  containing  it. 

Whether  this  discovery  and  the  discovery  of  the 
hydrostatic  principle  just  mentioned  were  inventions 
or  not,  depends,  of  course,  on  the  meaning  of  the  word 
invention.  Within  the  meaning  of  the  word  as  em- 
ployed heretofore  in  this  book,  both  seem  to  have  been 
inventions.  Each  made  a  definite  creation  and  each 
caused  something  to  exist,  the  like  of  which  had  never 


80  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

existed  before.  Furthermore,  the  mental  processes 
followed  resemble  very  closely  the  conception  and  for- 
mulation of  a  religion  or  a  theory,  the  conception  and 
composing  of  a  new  piece  of  music,  story  or  poem,  the 
conception  and  developing  of  any  new  plan  or  scheme; 
the  conception  and  embodying  in  material  form  of  any 
mechanical  device. 

It  is  not  asserted,  of  course,  that  all  inventions  are 
on  a  dead  level  of  equality,  simply  because  they  are 
inventions.  Evidently  there  are  degrees  of  excellence 
among  inventions  as  among  all  other  things. 


CHAPTER    IV 
INVENTION  IN  ROME:     ITS   RISE  AND   FALL 

VI7E  have  noted,  up  to  a  time  approximately  that  of 
*  *  Archimedes,  a  continual  succession  of  inventions 
of  many  kinds,  that  formed  stepping-stones  to  civiliza- 
tion so  large  and  plain,  that  we  can  see  them  even  from 
this  distance. 

We  now  come  to  a  period  lasting  more  than  a  thou- 
sand years,  in  the  first  half  of  which  there  was  a  grad- 
ually decreasing  lack  of  inventiveness  shown,  and  in 
the  latter  half  a  cessation  almost  complete. 

The  nation  that  followed  Greece  as  the  dominant 
nation  of  the  world  was  Rome.  She  became  more  truly 
a  dominant  nation  than  Greece  ever  was;  but  her  civili- 
zation was  built  on  that  of  Greece,  and  her  success 
even  in  war  and  government  was  due  largely  to  fol- 
lowing where  Greece  had  led.  That  Rome  in  her  early 
days  should  have  followed  the  methods  of  Greece  was 
natural  of  course;  for  the  two  countries  were  close 
together,  and  the  methods  of  Greece  had  brought  suc- 
cess. The  early  religion  of  Rome  was  so  like  that  of 
Greece  that  even  to  this  day  the  conceptions  of  most 
of  us  regarding  Zeus  and  Jupiter,  Poseidon  and  Nep- 
tune, Aphrodite  and  Venus  are  apt  to  become  confused. 

Like  the  Greeks,  the  Romans  first  were  gathered  in 
city-states  that  were  governed  by  kings ;  and  as  with  the 
Greeks,  more  republican  forms  were  adopted  later.  In 
one  important  particular,  the  Roman  practice  diverged 
from  the  Greek,  and  that  was  in  incorporating  con- 
quered states  into  the  parent  state,  and  granting  their 

81 


82  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

inhabitants  the  privileges  of  citizenship;  instead  of 
keeping  them  in  the  condition  of  mere  subject  states. 
The  Roman  system  was  somewhat  like  the  system  of 
provinces  established  by  the  Assyrians.  It  forms  the 
basis  of  the  "municipal  system"  of  the  free  states  of  the 
present  day,  in  which  local  self-government  is  carried 
on,  under  the  paramount  authority  of  the  state. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that  the  conception  of 
such  an  idea  and  its  successful  development  into  an 
effective  machine  of  government  by  the  Romans  con- 
stituted an  invention ;  though  in  view  of  what  had  been 
done  before  by  Assyria  and  Greece,  it  cannot  be  called 
a  basic  invention. 

The  early  Romans  were  very  different  in  their  men- 
tal characteristics  from  the  Greeks;  for  they  were  stern, 
warlike,  intensely  practical,  and  possessed  of  an  extraor- 
dinary talent  for  what  we  now  call  "team  work."  As 
a  nation  they  were  not  so  inventive  as  the  Greeks;  but 
the  Roman,  Caesar,  was  the  greatest  military  inventor 
who  ever  lived. 

As  might  be  expected,  their  early  endeavors  per- 
tained to  war,  and  their  first  improvements  were  in 
warlike  things.  One  improvement  that  was  marked  by 
considerable  inventiveness  was  in  changing  the  phalanx 
into  the  legion.  The  phalanx,  the  historian  Botsford 
tells  us,  was  "invented  by  the  Spartans,  probably  in 
the  eighth  century  B.  C,"  and  consisted  of  an  unbroken 
line  of  warriors,  several  ranks  deep.  The  Thebans  im- 
proved on  this;  and  from  the  Theban,  Philip  developed 
the  Macedonian  phalanx  with  which  Alexander  fought 
his  way  through  Asia.  The  Romans  under  Servius 
Tullius  developed  this  into  the  Roman  phalanx,  which 
was  different  only  in  detail.  The  essential  character- 
istic of  the  phalanx  was  strength.  This  was  gained  by 
the  close  support  given  by  each  man  to  his  neighbor, 
the  personal  strength  of  each  man  and  the  trained  co- 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  83 

operation  of  all.  A  tremendous  blow  was  given  to  an 
enemy's  line  when  a  phalanx  struck  it. 

In  the  early  wars  among  the  hills  of  Italy,  the 
Romans  found  the  phalanx  too  rigid  for  such  uneven 
country;  and  it  was  in  endeavoring  to  invent  a  substi- 
tute that  they  finally  developed  the  legion.  This  ma- 
chine was  much  more  flexible,  the  individual  soldiers 
had  more  room  for  their  movements,  and  yet  the  ma- 
chine seemed  to  possess  the  necessary  rigidity  when 
the  shock  of  impact  came.  The  heavy  infantry  was 
in  three  lines,  and  each  line  was  divided  into  ten  com- 
panies, or  "maniples."  The  burden  of  the  first  attack 
was  borne  by  the  first  line.  If  unsuccessful^  the  first 
line  withdrew  through  gaps  in  the  second  line,  and  the 
second  line  took  up  the  task; — and  then  the  third,  com- 
posed of  the  most  seasoned  troops.  The  attack  usually 
began  with  the  hurling  of  javelins,  and  was  followed 
at  once  by  an  assault  with  the  Roman  strong  short 
swords. 

Now  the  legion  was  just  as  truly  an  invented  ma- 
chine as  a  steam  engine  is;  and  it  had  a  greater  influ- 
ence on  history  than  the  steam  engine  has  ever  had 
thus  far.  It  was  by  means  of  their  legions  that  the 
Romans  passed  outside  of  the  walls  of  Rome,  and 
conquered  all  of  Italy.  It  was  by  means  of  their  le- 
gions that  the  Romans  conquered  all  the  coast  peoples 
that  bordered  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  subdued  Gaul, 
Europe  and  Egypt  and  Asia,  and  became  the  greatest 
masters  of  the  world  that  the  world  has  ever  seen. 

The  first  war  of  the  Romans  that  history  calls  great 
was  their  war  against  the  splendid  and  wealthy  city  of 
Carthage,  situated  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, inhabited  by  descendants  of  the  Phoenicians. 
They  were  an  aggressive  and  energetic  people,  but  only 
commercially.  They  were  not  of  the  warlike  cast,  and 
delegated  the  work  of  national  defense  to  hired  soldiers 


84  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

and  sailors.  They  had  one  great  advantage  over  the 
Romans  in  the  possession  of  an  excellent  navy. 

The  Romans  resolved  to  create  a  navy.  With  char- 
acteristic energy  and  practical  ability,  they  devoted 
themselves  at  once  to  both  the  acquisition  of  the  per- 
sonnel and  the  material,  and  the  adequate  training  of 
the  crews.  It  is  stated  that  within  two  months  from 
the  time  of  starting,  Rome  possessed  a  hundred  quin- 
queremes,  the  largest  galleys  of  those  days,  having  five 
tiers  of  rowers;  though  they  had  had  none  when  the 
war  broke  out.  The  first  naval  battle  took  place  near 
the  promontory  of  Mylae.  Naturally,  the  Romans 
were  at  a  great  disadvantage  as  compared  with  the 
experienced  officers  and  sailors  in  the  Carthaginian 
fleet;  for  though  the  Roman  soldier  was  far  better 
than  the  Carthaginian,  the  Roman  sailor  was  inexpe- 
rienced and  unskilful.  To  remedy  the  difficulty,  the 
Romans  made  a  simple  but  brilliant  invention.  They 
provided  each  quinquereme  with  a  "corvus,"  that  con- 
sisted essentially  of  a  drawbridge  that  could  be  lowered 
quickly,  and  that  carried  a  sharp  spike  at  its  outer  end; 
and  then  arranged  a  plan  whereby  each  quinquereme 
should  get  alongside  of  a  Carthaginian,  drop  the  draw- 
bridge at  such  a  time  that  the  spike  would  hold  the 
outer  end  of  the  drawbridge  in  place  on  the  Cartha- 
ginian deck,  and  Roman  soldiers  should  then  rush 
across  the  drawbridge  and  attack  the  inferior  Cartha- 
ginian soldiers. 

Few  more  brilliant  inventions  have  ever  been  made ; 
few  have  been  more  -successful  and  effective.  The 
battle  ended  in  a  perfect  victory  for  the  Romans,  and 
constituted  the  initial  step  in  the  subjugation  of  Car- 
thage by  Rome. 

There  were  three  wars  in  all,  called  Punic  Wars. 
The  great  Carthaginian  General,  Hannibal,  invaded 
Italy  by  land  in  the  Second  War,  and  after  a  campaign 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  85 

marked  with  a  high  order  of  daring  and  ability,  threat- 
ened Rome  herself  after  a  brilliant  victory  near  Lake 
Trasimene.  Another  victory  followed  at  Cannae,  but 
a  decisive  disaster  later  on  the  Metaurus  River.  So 
the  Second  War  was  won  by  Rome.  But  Carthage 
still  existed,  and  menaced  the  commercial,  naval  and 
military  dominance  of  Rome.  Therefore  war  was 
brought  about  at  last  by  Rome,  and  Carthage  destroyed 
completely. 

The  conduct  of  Rome  toward  Carthage  cannot  be 
justified  on  any  grounds  of  any  system  of  morality 
accepted  at  the  present  day;  and  yet  it  cannot  reason- 
ably be  denied  that  it  was  better  for  human  progress 
that  Rome  should  prevail  than  Carthage.  The  Ro- 
mans, harsh  and  ruthless  as  they  were,  were  less  so 
than  the  Carthaginians;  and  they  had  an  element  of 
strong  manliness  and  a  comprehensive  grasp  of  things 
beyond  mere  commerce  and  money-getting  and  ease 
and  comfort  that  the  Semitic  Carthaginians  wholly 
lacked.  The  effect  of  the  conquest  of  Carthage  by 
Rome  was  a  little  like  that  of  the  conquest  of  Persia 
by  Alexander. 

During  the  same  year  (146  B.  C.)  when  Rome 
destroyed  Carthage,  she  also  destroyed  Corinth  in 
Greece,  and  brought  Greece  and  Macedonia  under  her 
sway.  She  had  previously  (190  B.  C.)  defeated  An- 
tiochus  the  Great,  and  taken  from  him  nearly  all  his 
territory  in  Asia  Minor. 

By  the  year  58  B.  C.,  Rome  had  become  the  most 
powerful  nation  in  the  world  and  still  preserved  a 
republican  form  of  government.  In  that  year,  58 
B.  C.,  the  man  who  probably  is  the  most  generally 
regarded  as  the  greatest  man  who  has  ever  lived,  ap- 
peared upon  the  stage  of  history.  His  name  was  Julius 
Caesar. 

He  appeared  in  that  year,  because  he  went  then  from 


86  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

Rome  to  Gaul,  and  started  on  those  brilliant  and  in 
many  respects  unprecedented  campaigns  which  have 
had  so  profound  an  effect  on  history,  and  which  for 
originality  in  conception  and  execution  have  had  no 
rivals  since. 

At  this  time,  Italy  and  the  lands  of  Africa  and  Asia 
on  which  Alexander  had  impressed  the  civilization  of 
Greece,  were  prosperous  and  well-governed;  but  be- 
yond those  countries  only  barbarous  customs  prevailed, 
and  only  a  primitive  civilization  reigned.  The  lands 
that  lay  north  and  northwest  of  Italy,  throughout  all 
Gaul,  were  inhabited  by  savage  tribes  that  were  in  a 
state  of  continual  war  with  each  other.  In  the  southern 
and  middle  parts  the  effects  of  Roman  civilization 
might  be  dimly  seen;  but  in  the  southwestern  part,  and 
in  the  north,  especially  among  the  German  tribes  on 
the  Rhine,  and  the  Belgae  near  the  North  Sea,  a  con- 
dition of  virtually  pure  savagery  prevailed. 

Into  such  a  country  Caesar  marched,  at  the  head  of 
a  body  of  men  wholly  inferior  in  numbers  to  those 
they  were  to  meet,  not  superior  to  them  in  courage  or 
physical  strength,  but  considerably  superior  to  them  in 
discipline,  and  vastly  superior  in  the  weapons  and 
methods  that  had  gradually  been  invented,  with  the 
progress  of  civilization.  Thus,  while  the  Roman  ma- 
chine was  superior  as  a  machine  to  any  that  the  Gauls 
could  bring  to  bear,  it  was  smaller;  so  that  the  question 
to  be  decided  was  whether  the  superior  excellence  of 
the  Roman  machine  was  great  enough  to  balance  its 
inferiority  in  size.  Looking  back  from  our  vantage 
ground  on  the  history  of  the  campaigns  that  followed, 
we  feel  inclined  to  answer  the  question  in  the  negative, 
unless  we  consider  Caesar  himself  a  part  of  the  ma- 
chine. It  is  true  that  the  campaigns  were  decided  in 
favor  of  the  Roman  machine ;  but  there  seems  little 
ground  for  doubting  that  they  would  not  have  been 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  87 

so  decided,  if  the  genius  of  Caesar  had  not  managed  the 
Roman  machine  and  made  improvements  from  time 
to  time. 

Caesar  had  had  little  experience  as  a  soldier,  but  his 
habits  of  life  and  traits  of  character  were  of  the  mili- 
tary kind.  As  the  campaigns  progressed,  his  courage, 
equanimity  and  rapidity  of  thought  and  action  were 
continually  displayed; — yet  not  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
put  him  in  a  higher  class  than  many  other  generals  of 
history,  or  to  account  wholly  for  his  marvellous  suc- 
cesses. One  peculiar  ability,  however,  he  possessed  and 
exercised  in  a  degree  greater  than  any  other  general  of 
history:  and  it  was  by  the  exercise  of  that  ability  that 
his  most  extraordinary  victories  were  achieved,  and  his 
generalship  especially  distinguished  from  the  general- 
ship of  others.  That  ability  was  inventiveness. 

His  first  contact  was  with  the  Swiss  (Helvetii),  who 
were  about  to  leave  the  barrenness  of  their  mountain 
lands,  and  march  west  to  the  fertile  lands  beyond.  As 
this  would  take  them  through  Roman  territory  and 
tend  to  drive  the  Gauls  into  Italy,  open  Switzerland 
to  occupation  by  the  Germans,  and  point  a  road  thence 
for  them  also  into  Italy,  Caesar  hastened  to  the  Rhone 
River,  destroyed  the  bridge  which  they  would  naturally 
go  over,  and  forbade  the  Swiss  to  attempt  to  cross  the 
river.  The  Swiss  pleaded  with  Caesar  to  permit  them 
to  cross.  As  Caesar  realized  that  the  Swiss  were  too 
greatly  superior  in  force  to  be  kept  back,  unless  he 
could  strengthen  himself  in  some  way,  he  asked  time 
for  reflection,  and  told  them  to  return  in  two  weeks. 
When  the  Swiss  returned  at  the  end  of  that  time,  their 
astonished  eyes  disclosed  to  them  the  fact  that  Caesar 
had  constructed  walls  and  trenches  and  forts  at  every 
point  where  a  passage  could  reasonably  be  attempted. 

It  may  be  objected  that  walls  and  trenches  and  forts 
were  not  new,  and  that  therefore  Caesar  invented  noth- 


88  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ing.  This  may  be  admitted  as  an  academic  proposi- 
tion; but  nevertheless,  it  was  clearly  the  ingenious  and 
wholly  unexpected  construction  of  certain  appliances 
by  Caesar  that  opposed  the  barbarous  Swiss  with  bar- 
riers which  they  could  not  pass.  It  may  even  be  argued 
with  much  reason  that  the  conception  and  successful 
execution  of  Caesar's  plan  as  a  whole  constituted  an 
invention,  even  though  the  material  used  was  old.  Cer- 
tain it  is  that  a  situation  was  created  which  did  not 
exist  before,  and  that  it  was  the  creation  of  this  situa- 
tion, and  not  the  exercise  of  strength  or  courage,  that 
was  the  determining  factor  in  stopping  the  Swiss. 
Froude  says  of  Caesar,  uHe  was  never  greater  than  in 
unlooked-for  difficulties.  He  never  rested.  He  was 
always  inventing  some  new  contrivance." 

Caesar  realized  fully  the  value  in  war  of  mechanical 
appliances,  and  took  careful  measures  before  he  left 
Italy  to  supply  his  army  adequately  with  them,  and 
also  with  men  trained  to  use  them.  Besides  the  fight- 
ing men  strictly  considered,  Caesar  took  a  considerable 
number  of  engineers  with  him,  and  expert  men  for 
building  bridges,  and  doing  mechanical  work  of  many 
kinds.  The  ingenious  and  frequent  use  that  Caesar 
made  of  these  men  and  of  mechanical  appliances  was 
the  most  powerful  single  factor  that  contributed  to  his 
success. 

The  Swiss  departing  from  Switzerland  by  another 
route,  Caesar  pursued  them,  and  defeated  a  fourth  of 
them  in  a  battle  on  the  banks  of  a  river  which  the  other 
three-fourths  had  crossed.  He  then  built  a  bridge  over 
the  river  and  sent  his  army  across.  This  feat  alarmed 
the  Swiss  more  than  their  defeat;  because  Caesar  had 
built  the  bridge  and  sent  his  army  across  in  one  day, 
whereas  they  had  consumed  twenty  days  in  merely 
crossing.  The  Swiss  pleaded  to  be  allowed  to  proceed; 
but  Caesar  was  obdurate.  A  battle  followed,  in  which 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  89 

the  Swiss,  though  greatly  superior  in  numbers  and  re- 
inforced by  15,000  allies,  were  decisively  beaten;  not 
because  of  inferior  courage  or  warlike  skill,  but  by 
reason  of  inferior  equipments,  mechanical  appliances 
and  weapons. 

Caesar's  next  battle  was  with  the  Germans.  It  was 
won,  if  not  precisely  with  inventiveness,  at  least  with 
"brains."  He  learned  that  the  German  matrons  had 
declared,  after  certain  occult  proceedings,  that  Heaven 
forbade  them  to  fight  before  the  new  moon.  Appre- 
hending his  opportunity,  he  advanced  his  forces  right 
up  to  the  German  camp,  thereby  forcing  them  as  valiant 
soldiers  to  come  out  and  fight.  Fight  they  did,  but 
under  an  obvious  psychological  disadvantage,  and  with 
the  natural  result. 

In  this  battle,  as  in  others  between  the  Romans  and 
the  barbarians,  it  was  noticeable  that  although  their 
first  onslaught  was  fine,  the  barbarians  seemed  to  be  at 
a  loss  afterwards, — especially  if  anything  unexpected 
occurred,  or  if  any  reverse  was  sustained;  whereas  the 
Romans — and  especially  Caesar  himself — never  be- 
haved so  well  as  when  threatened  with  disaster.  This 
may  be  expressed  by  saying  that  the  barbarians,  as  com- 
pared with  the  Romans,  were  wholly  inferior  in  the 
inventiveness  needed  to  devise  a  new  plan  quickly. 

Not  long  afterward,  Caesar  advanced  against  the 
town  of  Noviodunum.  He  soon  saw  that  he  could  not 
take  it  by  storm;  and  so  he  brought  forward  his  me- 
chanical siege  appliances.  The  psychological  effect  of 
these  on  the  barbarians  was  so  tremendous  that  they  at 
once  pleaded  for  terms  of  surrender. 

After  a  battle  with  the  Nervii,  in  which  Caesar  de- 
feated them  disastrously,  largely  because  of  his  resource- 
fulness in  emergency  and  their  lack  of  it,  he  advanced 
against  a  great  barbarian  stronghold  that  looked  down 
on  steep  rocks  on  three  sides,  and  was  protected  by  a 


90  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

thick,  high  double  wall  on  the  fourth  side.  Caesar  made 
a  fortified  rampart  around  the  town,  pushed  his  mant- 
lets (large  shields  on  wheels  protected  on  the  sides  and 
top)  close  up  to  the  wall,  and  built  a  tower.  The  bar- 
barians laughed  at  this  tower;  seeing  it  so  far  away 
that,  they  thought,  no  darts  thrown  from  it  could  reach 
them.  But  when  they  saw  the  tower  actually  moving 
toward  them  they  were  struck  with  terror  and  began 
at  once  to  sue  for  peace. 

During  the  following  winter  the  Veneti,  a  large  tribe 
on  the  northwestern  coast,  the  most  skilful  seamen  and 
navigators  of  Gaul,  stirred  up  a  revolt  that  quickly  and 
widely  spread.  The  situation  at  once  became  serious 
for  Caesar,  for  the  reason  that  the  Veneti  could  not  be 
subdued,  except  on  the  sea ;  and  neither  the  Roman 
sailors  nor  the  Roman  vessels  were  as  good  as  were 
those  of  the  Veneti.  Nevertheless,  Caesar  ordered  war- 
vessels  to  be  built  on  the  Loire  River,  and  seamen  and 
rowers  to  be  drafted  from  the  Roman  Province. 

When  the  improvised  fleet  of  the  Romans  and  the 
thoroughly  prepared  fleet  of  the  Veneti  came  together, 
the  latter  was  superior  even  in  numbers.  Furthermore, 
the  Romans  were  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  the  matter 
of  throwing  projectiles,  from  the  fact  that  the  Veneti's 
decks  were  higher  than  theirs. 

But  Caesar  had  prepared  a  scheme  that  gave  him 
victory.  In  accordance  with  it,  the  Roman  galleys 
rowed  smartly  against  the  Veneti  ships,  and  Roman 
sailors  raised  long  poles  on  which  were  sharp  hooks 
which  they  put  over  the  halliards  that  held  up  the  sails. 
Then  each  Roman  galley  rowed  rapidly  away,  the  hal- 
liards were  cut,  and  down  came  the  sails.  The  Veneti 
ships  became  helpless  at  once  and  were  immediately 
boarded;  with  the  result  that,  of  all  the  number,  only 
a  few  made  their  escape. 

Somewhat  later,  Caesar  decided  to  cross  the  Rhine 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  91 

into  the  country  of  the  Sueves,  and  to  impress  them 
with  the  power  of  Rome  by  building  a  bridge  and 
marching  his  army  across.  This  bridge  and  the  quick- 
ness and  thoroughness  with  which  it  was  built  are  still 
models  for  engineers;  for  in  ten  days  after  he  had 
decided  to  build  it,  at  which  time  the  material  was  still 
standing  in  the  forest,  a  bridge  40  feet  wide  had  been 
constructed.  Across  this  Caesar  at  once  marched  his 
legions.  The  effect  on  the  barbarous  Germans  can 
beSmagined.  It  made  them  realize  that  the  Romans 
were  a  race  superior  to  themselves  in  ways  that  they 
could  not  measure  or  even  understand;  and  it  impressed 
them  with  that  fear  which  is  the  most  depressing  of  all 
fears,  the  fear  of  the  unknown. 

Did  Caesar  make  an  invention?  This  depends  on 
the  meaning  of  the  word  invention.  Caesar  did  not 
invent  the  bridge;  but  he  did  conceive  and  carry  into 
execution  a  highly  original,  concrete  and  successful 
scheme.  By  it  he  accomplished  as  much  as  a  victorious 
campaign  would  have  accomplished,  and  without  shed- 
ding any  blood.  He  devised  means  which  created  a 
state  of  thought  in  the  minds  of  his  enemies  that  de-> 
stroyed  their  will  to  fight.  Therein  lay  his  invention. 

Caesar  then  conceived  the  idea  of  going  across  the 
water  to  the  island  of  Britain,  about  which  little  was 
known.  After  having  a  survey  made  of  the  coast,  he 
took  his  legions  across  in  about  eighty  vessels.  He  had 
to  fight  to  make  a  landing,  of  course ;  but  he  succeeded, 
and  then  formed  his  camp.  A  Roman  camp,  we  may 
now  remind  ourselves,  was  so  distinctly  a  Roman  con- 
ception, and  so  distinctly  a  part  of  the  Roman  system 
of  conducting  war,  that  it  almost  constituted  an  inven- 
tion. Whenever  a  Roman  army  halted,  even  for  one 
night,  they  intrenched  themselves  within  a  square  en- 
closure, surrounded  with  a  ditch  and  a  palisade  of 
stakes,  and  made  a  temporary  little  city,  laid  with 


92  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

streets.  In  such  a  camp  they  were  reasonably  safe 
against  any  attack  that  barbarians  could  make. 

But  a  storm  arose  that  drove  some  of  Caesar's  ships 
ashore  and  some  out  to  sea.  In  this  emergency,  Caesar's 
resourcefulness  and  energy  directed  the  work  of  re- 
covery and  repair,  and  enabled  the  Romans  to  collect 
and  put  into  good  condition  nearly  all  their  ships. 
Caesar  returned  shortly  afterward  to  Gaul;  arrived 
there,  he  gave  directions  for  building  and  equipping 
another  and  larger  fleet. 

In  the  following  July  (54  B.  C.),  he  started  again 
for  Britain.  This  time  he  took  five  legions  and  some 
cavalry  and  had  about  800  vessels.  He  landed  and 
formed  his  camp,  and  then  advanced  inland; — but 
another  storm  arose  that  scattered  his  ships.  He  re- 
turned at  once  to  the  coast,  and  instituted  such  prompt 
and  resourceful  measures  that  in  ten  days  he  was 
able  to  resume  his  march.  On  this  march,  which  took 
him  far  inland,  he  was  able  to  overcome  all  opposition; 
largely  because,  after  the  first  onset,  the  barbarians 
seemed  to  be  without  any  plan  of  action,  while  Caesar 
was  at  his  best. 

Casar  had  the  ability  to  invent  under  circumstances 
of  the  utmost  danger  and  excitement. 

Caesar's  remaining  campaigns  in  Gaul  were  marked 
with  the  same  resourcefulness  and  originality  on  his 
part,  and  the  same  lack  of  resourcefulness  and  origi- 
nality on  the  part  of  the  barbarians.  Caesar  would  con- 
tinually do  something  that  the  barbarians  had  not  ex- 
pected him  to  do.  True,  they  gradually  learned  some 
of  his  schemes  and  methods  from  him;  but  only  to  find 
that  he  had  then  some  newer  schemes  and  methods. 

Caesar  at  one  time  remarked  that  wise  men  antici- 
pate possible  difficulties,  and  decide  beforehand  what 
they  will  do,  if  certain  possible  occasions  arise.  Does 
not  this  process  involve  invention,  in  cases  where  the 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  93 

possible  occasions  are  not  of  the  ordinary  and  expect- 
able kind?  In  such  cases,  4oes  it  not  require  imagina- 
tion to  foresee  the  possible  occasions,  and  form  a  cor- 
rect picture  on  the  mind  of  the  resulting  situations? 
This  being  done,  does  it  not  require  the  exercise  of  the 
constructive  faculty  afterwards,  to  make  a  concrete  and 
effective  plan  to  meet  them? 

If  it  be  so,  then  we  may  reasonably  declare  that,  of 
all  the  factors  that  contributed  to  the  successes  in  Gaul 
of  Csesar,  the  most  powerful  single  factor  was  his 
inventiveness. 

The  final  crisis  came  when  Caesar  besieged  Alesia, 
and  Vercingetorix,  who  had  taken  refuge  in  it,  sent  out 
a  call  for  succor,  that  was  eagerly  and  promptly  re- 
sponded to;  for  it  was  plain  to  the  barbarians  that 
Caesar,  being  held  in  position  fronting  a  fortress  that 
he  could  not  successfully  storm,  would  be  in  a  precari- 
ous condition  if  attacked  vigorously  in  his  rear.  At- 
tacked vigorously  he  was;  for  the  barbarians  came  in 
his  rear  with  about  250,000  men;  Caesar  having  only 
50,000,  and  the  enemy  in  front  having  80,000. 

But  it  required  somewhat  more  than  a  month  for  the 
barbarians  to  unite  and  reach  Alesia.  With  his  wonted 
energy  and  resourcefulness,  Caesar  had  by  this  time  cast 
up  siege  works  all  around  the  fortress,  placed  camps  at 
strategic  points,  and  constructed  twenty-three  block- 
houses. He  dug  a  trench  twenty  feet  deep  around  the 
place,  and  back  of  this  began  his  other  siege  works. 
These  included  two  parallel  trenches  fifteen  feet  broad 
and  fifteen  feet  deep.  Behind  these  he  built  a  pali- 
sade twelve  feet  high,  and  to  this  he  added  a  breast- 
work of  pointed  stakes;  while  at  intervals  of  eighty 
feet  he  constructed  turrets.  In  addition,  he  had 
branches  cut  from  trees  and  sharpened  on  the  ends; 
and  these  he  fastened  at  the  bottom  of  the  trenches,  so 
that  the  points  projected  just  above  the  ground.  In 


94  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

front  of  these  he  dug  shallow  pits,  into  which  tapering 
stakes  hardened  in  the  fire  were  driven,  projecting  four 
inches  above  the  ground.  These  pits  were  hidden  with 
twigs  and  brushwood.  Eight  rows  of  these  pits  were 
dug,  three  feet  apart;  and  in  front  of  all  stakes  with 
iron  hooks  were  buried  in  the  ground  at  irregular  in- 
tervals. When  all  this  had  been  done  on  the  side 
toward  the  fortress,  Caesar  constructed  parallel  en- 
trenchments of  the  same  kind,  to  protect  his  rear;  the 
two  sets  being  so  arranged  with  respect  to  each  other 
that  the  same  men  could  man  both.  Having  constructed 
all  these  material  appliances,  he  instituted  a  compre- 
hensive system  of  drills,  so  that  his  men  would  know 
exactly  how  to  utilize  them  under  all  probable  con- 
tingencies. 

In  the  battle  that  followed  the  barbarians  showed 
their  wonted  courage  and  dash;  but  an  unexpected 
situation  arose  when  Caesar  attacked  a  separated  part 
in  their  rear.  Then  they  were  seized  with  panic,  and 
the  natural  rout  and  disaster  followed. 

This  battle  decided  the  fate  of  Gaul;  though  its 
actual  subduing,  especially  in  the  southwestern  part 
was  not  accomplished  immediately.  The  last  major 
act  was  taking  a  strong  fortress.  This  was  accom- 
plished by  cutting  a  tunnel,  by  which  the  spring  was 
tapped  that  supplied  the  garrison  with  water.  As 
Vercingetorix  said,  the  Romans  won  their  victories,  not 
by  superior  courage,  but  by  superior  science. 

Caesar's  later  passage  across  the  Rubicon,  the  flight 
of  the  Senate,  and  his  later  operations  by  land  and  sea 
against  Marseilles  (Massilia)  and  hostile  forces  in 
northern  Spain,  are  well  known,  and  were  character- 
ized by  the  same  high  order  of  inventiveness.  His  later 
operations  against  Pompey,  and  later  still  against  Phar- 
naces  and  Scipio,  were  conducted  under  conditions  that 
gave  him  less  opportunity  to  utilize  the  quality  of  in- 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  95 

ventiveness  in  such  clear  ways;  but  they  were  marked 
with  the  kindred  qualities  of  foresight,  skilful  adapta- 
tion of  means  to  ends,  and  presence  of  mind  in  emer- 
gencies. 

In  the  minds  of  some,  Caesar's  greatest  influence  on 
history  has  been  due  to  his  improvement  of  the  Calen- 
dar, and  especially  his  reforms  of  the  public  morals 
and  the  laws  of  Rome,  after  his  campaign  against 
Pharnaces.  This  subject  has  been  the  theme  of  jurists 
and  scholars  to  such  a  degree  that  it  might  seem  pre- 
sumptuous in  a  navy  officer  to  do  more  than  mention 
it.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  Caesar's 
work  was  not  in  any  matters  of  detail,  or  in  contribut- 
ing any  legal  or  juridical  skill  or  knowledge,  but  in  con- 
ceiving the  idea  of  creating  the  Leges  Julia,  and  then 
creating  them. 

Julius  Caesar  was  murdered  in  the  year  44  B.  C.  He 
was  followed  in  power  by  his  grandnephew  Octavius, 
one  of  the  most  fortunate  occurrences  in  history;  for 
Octavius  possessed  the  ability  and  the  character  to 
carry  on  the  constructive  work  that  Julius  Caesar  had 
begun.  Under  Octavius  and  his  successors,  the  Roman 
Empire  became  increasingly  large  and  strong,  until  the 
reign  of  Trajan  in  the  second  century,  A.  D.,  when  it 
acquired  its  greatest  territorial  extent. 

During  the  time  when  Rome  was  increasing  in  extent 
and  power,  the  wealth  of  cities  and  of  individuals  in- 
creased also,  and  enormous  public  works  of  all  kinds 
were  constructed,  many  of  which  are  still  the  admira- 
tion of  the  world.  Material  prosperity  reached  its 
highest  point. 

But  the  creative  period  had  passed.  Youth,  with  its 
dreams  and  vigor  of  doing  had  gone,  and  maturity, 
with  the  luxury  of  prosperity  and  the  consequent  dull- 
ing of  the  imagination,  had  assumed  its  place.  Sen- 
escence followed  in  due  course.  Then  the  empire  was 


96 


INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 


divided  into  two  parts,  the  Empire  of  the  West  and 
the  Empire  of  the  East.  Finally,  in  476  A.  D.,  Rome 
died  and  with  it  the  Empire  of  the  West. 

But  the  Eastern  Empire  stood,  and  Constantinople 
was  its  capital.  And  it  stood,  alone  and  unassisted,  as 
the  sole  bulwark  of  Christianity  and  civilization  for 


Triumphal  Procession  from  the  Arch  of  Titus 

nearly  1000  years,  until  it  finally  fell  before  the  Otto- 
man Turks  in  1543.  It  could  not  have  done  this,  if 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  seventh  century  when  it  was 
beleaguered  by  a  Turkish  fleet,  much  greater  than  its 
own,  it  had  not  suddenly  received  unexpected  aid  in 
the  shape  of  a  new  invention.  This  was  "Greek  fire," 
which  seems  to  have  been  a  pasty  mixture  of  sulphur, 
nitre,  pitch,  and  other  substances,  which  when  squirted 
against  wood  set  it  on  fire  with  a  flame  that  water  could 
not  quench.  In  the  very  first  attack,  the  Turks  were  so 
demoralized  by  the  Greek  fire  that  they  fled  in  panic. 
They  never  learned  the  secret  and  were  never  able  to 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  97 

stand  up  against  it.  On  one  occasion,  fifteen  Christian 
ships,  using  Greek  fire,  actually  put  to  rout  a  Turkish 
fleet  numbering  several  hundred. 

During  all  the  countless  centuries  before  the  dawn  of 
recorded  history,  and  during  the  approximately  forty 
centuries  that  elapsed  from  the  beginning  of  recorded 
history  until  the  fall  of  Rome,  we  have  observed  the 
coming  of  many  inventions  of  both  material  and  imma- 
terial kinds,  and  noted  the  influence  of  those  inventions 
in  causing  civilization,  and  therefore  in  directing  the 
line  that  history  has  followed. 

It  may  be  objected  that  a  perfectly  natural  inference 
from  what  has  been  written  would  be  that  the  only 
thing  which  had  influenced  the  direction  of  movement 
of. history  was  invention.  To  this,  the  answer  may 
very  reasonably  be  made  that  this  book  does  not  pre- 
tend to  be  a  history,  or  to  point  out  what  have  been  the 
greatest  factors  that  have  influenced  its  line  of  move- 
ment; it  attempts  merely  to  emphasize  the  influence  of 
one  factor,  invention,  and  to  suggest  that  maybe  its 
influence  has  not  hitherto  been  estimated  at  its  proper 
value. 

Another  objection  like  that  just  indicated  might  be 
made  to  the  effect  that  all  the  progress  of  the  world  up 
to  the  fall  of  Rome  is  attributed  in  this  book  to  in- 
ventors only;  that  all  the  work  of  statesmen,  scientists, 
generals,  admirals,  explorers,  jurists,  men  of  business, 
etc.,  etc.,  is  ignored. 

Such  an  objection  would  be  natural  and  reasonable; 
but  to  it  an  answer  like  the  previous  one  may  be  made, 
to  the  effect  that  the  purpose  of  this  book  is  not  to 
compare  the  benefits  conferred  by  any  one  class  of  men 
with  those  conferred  by  any  other,  but  merely  to  point 
out,  in  a  very  general  way,  what  inventors  have  done. 

Nevertheless,  it  does  seem  clear  that  inventors  did 


98  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

more  to  map  out  the  direction  of  the  progress  just 
traced  than  any  other  single  class  of  men.  If  we  will 
fix  our  attention  on  any  one  invention  about  which  we 
know  enough — say,  the  water-clock — we  can  see  that 
the  original  inventor  of  the  water-clock  (no  matter  who 
he  was)  had  more  influence  on  the  history  of  the  clock 
than  any  other  man  has  had;  and  that  the  inventors  of 
clocks  who  followed  him  had  more  influence  on  the 
clock  than  any  other  equal  number  of  men  had.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  men  who  risked  their  money 
in  making  novel  clocks  did  not  influence  the  history  of 
the  clock  materially;  and  it  does  not  mean  that  the 
men  who  made  good  materials  for  them  did  not  influ- 
ence the  history  of  the  clock  greatly;  and  it  does  not 
mean  that  the  engineers  and  mechanics  who  operated 
them  successfully  did  not  influence  its  history.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  pretend  that  each  one  of  these  men  did 
not  influence  the  history  of  the  clock;  for  without  them 
there  would  have  been  no  successful  clock.  Neverthe- 
less, in  the  nature  of  things,  the  original  inventors  must 
be  credited  with  influencing  the  history  of  the  clock 
more  than  any  other  equal  number  of  men  did,  just  as 
a  father  must  be  credited  with  influencing  the  history 
of  his  children  more  than  any  other  man  can,  from  the 
mere  fact  of  his  having  caused  them  to  be  born.  The 
inventors  of  clocks  were  the  fathers  of  the  clocks  that 
they  invented,  and  also  the  forefathers  of  all  the  in- 
ventions that  proceed  directly  or  indirectly  from  them. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  clock  applies  with 
equal  force  to  every  other  invented  thing.  Therefore, 
it  can  hardly  be  gainsaid  that,  so  far  as  invented  things 
are  concerned,  their  inventors  have  had  more  influence 
on  the  history  that  has  resulted  from  them  than  any 
other  men  have  had. 

If  anyone  will  glance  through  any  book  of  ancient 
history,  he  will  realize  that  it  is  mainly  a  record  of 


INVENTION    IN    ROME  99 

wars;  the  political  changes  caused  by  wars,  or  rendered 
possible  by  their  means;  the  growth  of  nations  and 
other  organizations;  the  invention  of  certain  mechan- 
isms, arts  and  sciences;  and  the  construction  of  certain 
structures  such  as  temples,  palaces  and  ships.  All  these 
agencies  influenced  ancient  history,  of  course;  but  it  is 
clear  that  the  agency  that  influenced  it  the  most  ob- 
viously and  immediately  was  the  wars.* 

Yet  let  us  remind  ourselves  that  the  real  effect  on 
history  of  any  war  was  not  exerted  by  the  war  itself,  so 
much  as  by  the  result  of  the  war.  Let  us  also  remind 
ourselves  that  the  result  of  any  war  was  because  of  the 
material  forces  engaged  and  the  skill  with  which  they 
were  handled. 

Now  the  material  forces  put  onto  the  field  of  battle 
on  each  side  in  any  of  the  wars  were  the  product  of  the 
material  resources  of  the  country,  of  its  wealth,  its 
ability  to  manufacture  weapons  and  transport  troops; 
that  is,  of  its  utilization  of  invented  mechanisms,  pro- 
cesses and  methods.  The  skill  with  which  they  were 
handled — (especially  when  supreme  skill  was  exerted, 
as  in  the  cases  of  Alexander  and  Caesar) — was  the  out- 
come not  of  mere  laborious  training,  not  of  mere 
knowledge,  or  courage,  or  carefully  detailed  arrange- 
ment, but  of  plans  so  conceived,  developed  and  pro- 
duced (invented)  as  to  confront  the  enemy  with  un- 
expected situations  that  they  were  not  prepared  to 
meet.  So  the  influence  of  even  the  wars  seems  to  have 
been  due  fundamentally  to  invention. 

As  to  the  other  agencies  that  influenced  the  course 
of  ancient  history,  they  seem  to  owe  their  influence  even 
more  obviously  to  invention  than  war  does.  Every 
department  of  ancient  civilization  seems  traceable  back 
to  some  invention  or  inventions.  The  whole  of  ancient 
civilization  seems  to  rest  primarily  on  inventions. 

As   inventions  were   made  by  inventors,   we   seem 


100  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

forced  to  the  conclusion  that  inventors  influenced  an- 
cient history  more  than  any  other  one  class  did.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  inventor  of  a  child's  toy  influ- 
enced history  more  than  did  any  one  of  the  millions  of 
wise  and  good  men  in  each  generation  who  helped  to 
keep  the  machine  of  civilization  working  smoothly;  for 
it  refers  to  inventors  as  a  class,  and  not  to  inventors  as 
individuals. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    INVENTION    OF   THE    GUN    AND 
OF    PRINTING 

THE  period  from  the  fall  of  Rome  to  the  beginning 
of  the  fourteenth  century  was  almost  destitute  in 
the  matter  of  inventions  that  can  be  distinctly  named: 
though  the  conception  and  carrying  into  effect  of  Mo- 
hammedanism in  the  seventh  century,  the  campaigns 
and  governmental  systems  of  Charlemagne  in  the  ninth 
century,  the  invasion  of  England  by  William  of  Nor- 
mandy in  the  eleventh  century,  and  the  Crusades  in 
the  eleventh,  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries,  as  well 
as  all  the  numerous  wars  and  campaigns  that  succeeded 
each  other  so  rapidly,  indicate  a  mental  and  nervous 
restlessness  which  sought  relief  in  action,  and  which 
received  guidance  in  seeking  that  relief  from  the  sug- 
gestions of  invention. 

During  the  interval,  paper  is  supposed  by  some  to 
have  been  invented,  or  at  least  the  art  of  making  it 
from  rags.  Paper  itself,  however,  had  been  invented 
long  before  in  China. 

The  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century  opened  a  new 
era  in  Europe  with  the  introduction  of  one  of  the  most 
important  inventions  ever  made,  the  gun.  It  is  often 
said  that  gunpowder  was  invented  then.  Gunpowder, 
of  course,  had  been  invented  or  discovered  many  cen- 
turies before. 

There  is  much  obscurity  about  the  invention  of  gun- 
powder. It  is  usually  supposed  to  have  been  invented 
in  China,  and  to  have  crept  its  way  first  to  the  western 

101 


102  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Asian  nations,  and  afterwards  to  Europe  by  way  of 
the  Mediterranean.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  gun- 
powder was  known  to  the  Romans  in  the  days  of  the 
empire;  and  some  accounts  of  Alexander's  campaigns 
declare  that  he  used  mines  to  destroy  the  walls  of  Gaza. 

It  is  supposed  by  many  that  the  Chinese  had  can- 
non, from  certain  embrasures  in  some  of  their  ancient 
walls;  but  there  seems  to  be  no  absolute  proof  of  this. 
It  seems  fairly  well  established  that  the  Moors  used 
artillery  in  Spain  in  the  twelfth  century;  though  some 
writers  hold  that  what  were  called  firearms  in  Europe 
before  the  fourteenth  century  were  only  engines  which 
threw  fire  into  besieged  places. 

It  seems  probable  that  the  gun  was  invented  as  the 
result  of  an  accident  that  occurred  while  some  man 
was  pounding  the  (gunpowder)  mixture  of  charcoal, 
saltpetre  and  sulphur  in  a  receptacle  of  some  kind. 
According  to  one  story,  the  mixture  exploded  and  threw 
the  pestle  violently  out  of  the  mortar.  From  this  in- 
cident, the  man  who  was  handling  the  pestle,  or  a  by- 
stander, is  supposed  to  have  conceived  the  idea  that 
the  powder  could  be  used  intentionally  to  throw  pro- 
jectiles, and  he  is  supposed  also  to  have  actually  proved 
that  it  could  be  done  at  will,  and  to  have  produced  a 
concrete  appliance  for  doing  it.  From  the  history  of 
the  case,  it  would  seem  that  the  first  gun  was  what  we 
still  call  a  "mortar." 

It  may  occur  to  some  that  (conceding  the  story  to 
be  true,  which  it  possibly  is,  in  essentials)  the  gun  was 
not  an  invention  so  much  as  a  discovery.  It  may  be 
pointed  out,  however,  t;hat  while  the  fact  that  gun- 
powder would  blow  a  pestle  out  of  a  mortar  might  be 
truly  called  a  discovery,  yet  the  conception  of  utilizing 
the  discovery  by  making  a  weapon,  and  the  subsequent 
making  of  the  weapon  constituted  an  invention  of  the 
most  clean-cut  kind. 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     103 

Let  us  realize  the  extreme  improbability  that  the 
phenomenon  of  the  expulsive  force  of  gunpowder  was 
then  noted  for  the  first  time.  It  seems  probable  that 
accidental  ignition  of  the  mixture  had  often  occurred 
before,  and  missiles  hurled  in  all  directions  in  conse- 
quence. But,  as  happens  in  the  vast  majority  of  all 
incidents,  no  one  imagined  any  possible  utilization  of 
the  facts  disclosed  by  the  incident;  and  if  the  man  who 
invented  the  gun,  after  witnessing  the  expulsion  of  the 
pestle  from  the  mortar,  had  not  been  endowed  with 
both  imagination  and  constructiveness,  he  would  have 
treated  it  as  most  of  us  treat  an  incident — merely  as 
an  incident.  But  the  imagination  of  this  man  must  at 
once  have  conceived  a  picture  of  what  we  now  call  a 
mortar,  which  should  be  designed  and  constructed  so 
that  projectiles  could  be  expelled  from  it  at  will,  in 
whatever  direction  the  mortar  were  pointing;  and  then 
his  constructive  faculty  must  have  taken  up  the  task 
that  imagination  had  suggested,  and  developed  the 
conception  into  a  concrete  thing. 

Into  the  long,  elaborate  and  exciting  history  of  the 
development  of  the  gun,  that  has  been  carried  on  with 
enormous  energy  ever  since,  it  is  not  necessary  at  this 
point  to  enter.  Since  the  sixteenth  century,  its  history 
is  accurately  known,  and  many  large  books  are  filled 
with  descriptions  and  diagrams  and  mathematical 
tables  and  formulas  that  recount  its  progress  in  detail; 
while  the  histories  of  all  the  nations  blaze  with  stories 
of  the  battles  in  which  guns  have  been  employed.  Of 
all  the  inventions  ever  made,  it  is  doubtful  if  the  devel- 
opment and  improvement  of  any  other  has  enlisted  the 
services  of  a  greater  number  of  men  and  of  more  im- 
portant men,  than  the  gun.  It  is  more  than  doubtful 
if  a  greater  amount  of  money  has  been  expended  on 
any  other  .invention,  if  a  greater  number  of  experi- 
ments have  been  made,  or  if  more  mental  and  physical 


104  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

energy  has  been  expended.  Certain  it  is  that  no  other 
invention  has  had  so  direct  and  powerful  an  effect  on 
human  beings;  for  the  number  of  men  it  has  killed  and 
wounded  must  be  expressed  in  terms  of  millions. 

This  phase  of  the  influence  of  the  gun  on  history  is 
clearly  marked.  Not  so  clearly  marked,  but  really 
more  important,  has  been  its  influence  in  deciding 
wars;  for  the  ways  in  which  wars  have  been  decided 
have  been  the  turning  points  in  the  march  of  history. 
The  issue  of  Alexander's  wars,  for  instance,  had  de- 
cided that  Greek  civilization  should  not  perish,  but 
survive;  the  issue  of  Caesar's  wars  in  Gaul  had  decided 
that  Roman  civilization  should  extend  north  over 
Europe,  and  that  the  western  incursion  of  the  savage 
Germans  should  be  stopped;  the  issue  of  the  wars  be- 
tween the  vigorous  Goths  and  degenerate  Rome  had 
decided  that  Rome  must  die ;  and  so  forth,  and  so  forth. 
So,  after  the  invention  of  the  gun,  the  issue  of  every 
succeeding  war  supplied  a  new  turning  point  for  history 
to  follow.  Naturally,  those  nations  that  took  the  most 
skilful,  prompt  and  thorough  advantage  of  the  power, 
range  and  accuracy  of  the  new  invention  gained  in 
almost  every  case  the  victory  over  their  opponents. 

So  long  as  no  weapons  existed,  struggles  between 
men  had  to  be  decided  by  physical  strength  and  cun- 
ning and  quickness  only.  When  the  first  flint  fist-ham- 
mer was  invented,  a  man  who  was  sagacious  enough 
and  industrious  enough  and  skilful  enough  to  make  one, 
could  gain  the  victory  over  many  another  man  of 
greater  physical  strength  and  quickness,  but  who  had 
not  the  sagacity,  industry  and  skill  to  provide  himself 
with  a  flint  fist-hammer. 

Supposing  the  flint  fist-hammer  to  be  the  first  inven- 
tion ever  made,  as  many  think  it  was,  we  see  here  the 
first  instance  of  the  influence  of  invention  on  history; 
because  this  first  invention  influenced  the  course  of  his- 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     105 

tory  in  favor  of  men  possessing  sagacity,  industry  and 
skill,  as  against  men  not  possessing  those  qualities.  By 
doing  this,  it  not  only  decided  that  such  men  (and  tribes 
composed  of  such  men)  should  prevail,  but  did  even 
more  to  influence  history;  it  induced  men  and  tribes  to 
make  and  develop  and  utilize  inventions.  This  resulted 
in  what  we  call  civilization. 

As  each  improved  weapon  followed  its  predecessor, 
a  new  demand  was  made ; — not  only  for  a  new  kind  of 
skill  on  the  part  of  the  man  making  the  weapon  and  on 
the  part  of  the  soldiers  using  it,  but  also  for  foresight 
on  the  part  of  the  tribe  or  nation  that  would  sup- 
ply the  weapon  to  its  troops.  It  is  easily  realized  that, 
if  there  were  two  contiguous  tribes  about  to  go  to  war 
against  each  other,  one  of  which  was  ruled  by  a  saga- 
cious, energetic  and  far-seeing  chief,  while  the  other 
was  ruled  by  a  dull,  slothful  and  short-sighted  chief, 
the  former  chief  would  probably  provide  his  warriors 
with  the  newest  weapon  (say,  the  bow  and  arrow)  and 
train  them  in  its  use;  whereas  the  other  would  ignore 
it  and  go  to  battle  with  clubs  and  javelins  only.  As 
between  two  tribes  otherwise  equally  matched,  the 
result  would  be  obvious;  and  doubtless  it  was  exceed- 
ingly obvious  in  hundreds  of  tribal  battles,  before  the 
dawn  of  history. 

It  is  a  characteristic  of  evolution,  as  has  been  pointed 
out  by  wise  men,  that  complexity  eventually  evolves 
from  simplicity.  In  no  one  department  of  man's 
endeavor  does  this  truth  stand  out  more  clearly  than 
in  the  evolution  of  weapons.  For  the  oldest  weapon 
that  we  know  of  was  probably  a  stone,  or  a  stick  used 
as  a  club;  and  each  succeeding  weapon  has  been  more 
complicated  than  its  predecessor, — needing  additional 
parts  with  which  to  secure  the  additional  results 
achieved.  This  increased  complexity  has  entailed  in- 
creased liability  to  derangement,  because  the  failure  of 


106  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

any  one  part  has  entailed  the  failure  or  the  decreased 
effectiveness  of  the  weapon  as  a  whole.  This  increased 
liability  to  derangement  has  entailed  a  demand  for  not 
only  increased  care  and  skill  in  fabricating  the  weapon, 
but  for  increased  knowledge,  diligence  and  skill  in 
caring  for  it,  and  using  it. 

The  superiority  of  the  gun  over  all  previously 
existing  weapons  was  quickly  recognized,  and  every 
civilized  nation  soon  adopted  it  as  its  major  imple- 
ment of  war.  As  the  gun  was  a  piece  of  mechanism, 
it  possessed  the  attribute  which  seems  to  give  to  pieces 
of  mechanism  an  element  of  superiority  over  every 
other  thing  in  the  universe,  the  attribute  of  continual 
improvability.  Human  beings  do  not  possess  this 
attribute,  nor  does  any  other  thing  in  nature,  so  far  as 
we  know.  Every  human  being  begins  where  his  father 
did — and  so  does  everything  else  on  the  earth;  though 
human  invention  has  recently  made  it  possible  for  cer- 
tain plants  to  be  improved.  No  new  invention  ever 
dies  as  a  man  does,  even  if  the  material  parts  or  imma- 
terial parts  that  compose  it  are  destroyed.  On  the 
contrary,  it  lives,  in  the  sense  that  it  exists  as  a  definite 
usable  entity,  and  also  in  the  sense  that  it  continues  to 
propagate.  And  the  things  that  it  propagates  do  not 
begin  as  helpless  and  useless  babies,  but  as  mature 
creations.  The  first  completed  gun  is  still  the  model 
for  the  guns  that  men  make  now,  and  will  continue  to 
be  the  model  for  all  guns  in  the  future.  The  man  who 
made  the  first  gun  has  been  succeeded  by  other  men, 
as  the  first  gun  has  been  succeeded  by  other  guns;  but 
the  human  successors  have  been  no  improvement  on  the 
inventor  of  the  first  gun,  while  the  guns  that  have  suc- 
ceeded the  first  gun  have  been  improvements  on  it  to  a 
degree  that  it  is  difficult — in  fact,  impossible,  to  realize. 

The  relations  of  the  gun  to  civilization  are  recip- 
rocal, and  are  therefore  in  accord  with  most  of  the 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     107 

other  phenomena  of  our  lives;  for  just  as  the  gun 
furthered  the  improvement  of  civilization,  civilization 
furthered  the  improvement  of  the  gun.  Nearly  every 
step  taken  in  the  physical  sciences,  and  afterward  in 
engineering  and  general  mechanics,  has  had  a  direct 
effect  in  improving  the  gun.  The  gun  began  as  an 
exceedingly  rough,  awkward  and  crude  appliance;  the 
gun  today  is  one  of  the  most  highly  specialized  and 
perfect  appliances  that  the  world  possesses. 

But  it  is  not  only  the  gun  itself  that  has  been  im- 
proved; the  powder  has  also  been  improved,  and  to  a 
degree  almost  equal,  if  not  quite.  When  we  realize 
that  modern  gunnery  is  so  exact  that  if  a  gun  is  fired 
in  any  direction  and  at  any  angle  of  elevation,  the  pro- 
jectiles will  fall  so  close  to  a  designated  spot  that  all 
considerable  variations  in  the  points  of  fall  from  that 
spot  are  usually  attributed  to  other  causes  than  imper- 
fection in  the  powder;  and  if  we  realize  also  that  a 
variation  of  one  per  cent,  in  the  initial  velocity  imparted 
to  a  projectile  by  its  powder  would  result  in  a  varia- 
tion (practically  speaking)  of  one  per  cent,  in  the  range 
attained,  we  then  may  realize  how  perfectly  understood 
the  laws  of  the  combustion  of  powder  and  the  develop- 
ment of  powder  gas  have  become,  and  how  perfect  are 
the  methods  of  manufacturing,  storing  and  using  it. 
Books  upon  books  have  been  written  on  the  subject  of 
making  and  using  gunpowder;  and  as  high  a  grade 
of  experimental  ability  has  been  employed  as  on  the 
development  of  any  other  art. 

It  is  not  quite  clear  whether  stationary  cannon  or 
small  guns  carried  by  soldiers  were  the  first  to  be  used; 
but  the  probability  seems  to  be  that  cannon  were  the 
first.  It  soon  became  desirable  to  devise  and  to  make 
appliances  for  holding  the  cannon  in  position,  elevating 
them  to  predetermined  angles,  and  transporting  them 
from  place  to  place.  To  accomplish  these  things,  gun- 


108  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

carriages  were  invented.  These  appliances  have  kept 
pace  with  guns  and  gunpowder  in  the  march  of  im- 
provement; countless  minor  inventions  have  been  made ; 
countless  experiments  have  been  conducted;  countless 
books  and  articles  have  been  written ;  countless  millions 
of  money  have  been  expended.  That  the  field  has  been 
large  can  readily  be  realized,  when  we  remind  our- 
selves of  the  numberless  situations  that  gun-carriages 
have  had  to  be  adapted  to,  on  the  level  plains  of  Cen- 
tral Europe,  in  the  mountains,  on  the  sands  of  the 
desert, — in  cold  and  heat  and  wet;  and  on  the  ocean 
also,  in  small  vessels  and  great  battleships,  to  handle 
cannon  great  and  small,  on  the  uneasy  surface  of  the 
sea.  But  it  will  not  be  enough  for  us  to  realize  that  it 
has  been  necessary  to  construct  gun-carriages  so  ingeni- 
ously that  guns  can  be  handled  on  them  under  all  these 
circumstances;  for  we  will  fall  short  of  a  realization 
of  what  must  be  attained,  unless  we  realize  that  the 
guns  must  be  handled  with  safety,  and  (which  is  more 
difficult  of  attainment)  with  precision  and  yet  with 
quickness. 

Now  to  bring  the  gun  and  its  accessories  to  the 
high  standard  they  have  now  reached,  the  resources 
of  virtually  all  the  physical  sciences  have  been  re- 
quired and  utilized;  so  that,  while  modern  civiliza- 
tion was  made  possible  by  the  gun,  and  could  not 
have  been  made  possible  without  it,  the  modern  gun 
has  been  made  possible  by  civilization,  and  could  not 
have  been  made  possible  without  it. 

This  mutuality  between  civilization  and  the  gun  is 
evident  in  the  relations  between  civilization  and  every 
other  great  invention.  It  is  very  clearly  evident  in  the 
case  of  material  mechanism;  for  it  has  been  plainly 
impossible  for  any  material  invention  to  exist  without 
directly  and  indirectly  contributing  to  the  improve- 
ment, and  even  to  the  birth,  of  others.  Any  improve- 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     109 

ment  in  the  process  of  making  any  metal  or  any 
compound  has  always  been  of  assistance  to  every 
mechanism  using  that  metal  or  that  compound;  and 
it  seems  impossible  to  name  any  mechanism  or  process 
whose  invention  has  not  helped  some  other  mechanism 
or  process.  In  the  matter  of  the  invention  of  imma- 
terial things,  the  effect  may  not  be  quite  so  obvious; 
and  yet  it  is  plain  that  most  of  those  inventions  have 
contributed  to  the  safety,  intelligence  and  stabilization 
of  peoples,  and  therefore  to  a  condition  of  mentality 
and  of  tranquillity  that  permitted  and  often  encouraged 
the  improvement  of  existing  appliances,  and  the  inven- 
tion of  new  ones.  Of  one  class  of  immaterial  inven- 
tion, such  as  new  books  on  the  physical  and  engineer- 
ing sciences,  the  influence  on  material  inventions  is,  of 
course,  as  obvious  as  it  is  profound. 

The  boom  of  the  gun  may  be  said,  by  a  not  forced 
figure  of  speech,  to  have  ushered  in  the  new  civiliza- 
tion that  rose  from  the  mental  lethargy  of  the  Middle 
Ages;  for  it  was  the  first  great  invention  of  all  in  the 
long  line  that  have  followed  since.  As  it  was  the  first, 
and  because  without  it  the  others  would  have  been  im- 
possible, we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  it 
was  the  most  important. 

The  mutual  reactions  between  the  gun  and  civilization 
have  resulted,  and  are  still  resulting,  in  widening  the  dis- 
tance between  the  civilized  and  the  uncivilized,  placing 
more  and  more  power  in  the  hands  of  the  civilized,  and 
putting  the  uncivilized  more  and  more  into  subjection  by 
the  civilized.  The  process  that  began  with  the  invention 
of  the  fist-hammer,  and  was  continued  through  the  cen- 
turies by  all  the  improvements  in  weapons  that  fol- 
lowed, was  brought  to  a  halt  when  Rome  fell,  and  not 
revived  until  the  gun  came  into  general  use  in  the  four- 
teenth century.  During  the  interval  of  nearly  nine  hun- 
dred years,  civilization  indeed  went  backward  with  the 


110  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

advance  of  the  barbarians  into  Europe,  checked  but  not 
wholly  stopped  by  Charles  Martel  at  the  Battle  of 
Tours  in  732,  and  later  by  Charlemagne,  his  grand- 
son, in  numerous  campaigns.  But  the  gun,  being 
adopted  and  improved  by  peoples  having  the  men- 
tality needed  to  discern  its  usefulness,  stabilized  the 
conditions  of  living  afterward  by  keeping  in  check  the 
barbarians,  especially  east  of  Europe.  Its  greatest 
single  usefulness  followed  from  this  by  making  possible 
the  development  and  utilization  of  the  next  great  in- 
vention. This  invention  was  next  to  the  gun  in  point 
of  time.  It  was  next  to  the  gun  in  influence  on  history 
also ;  and  some  people  think  it  has  had  even  more  influ- 
ence than  the  gun.  This  invention  is  usually  called  the 
invention  of  printing. 

Of  course,  printing  had  been  invented  centuries  be- 
fore, probably  in  China,  and  had  been  practiced  during 
all  the  intervening  centuries,  in  China,  Egypt,  Baby- 
lonia, Assyria,  Greece,  Rome,  the  Hellenistic  countries 
and  Italy.  But  the  printing  had  been  done  from  blocks 
on  which  were  cut  or  carved  many  characters,  that  ex- 
pressed whole  words  or  sentences.  Naturally,  print- 
ing done  from  them  was  not  adaptable  to  the  record- 
ing of  discussions,  the  making  of  connected  narratives, 
or  the  publishing  of  books. 

Suddenly,  about  the  year  1434,  John  Gutenberg, 
who  lives  at  Mayence,  conceives  the  idea  of  cutting 
only  one  letter  on  each  block,  putting  the  blocks  in 
forms  so  arranged  that  the  blocks  can  be  put  in  such 
sequence  as  may  be  desired  for  spelling  words,  and  all 
the  blocks  secured  firmly  in  position.  In  other  words, 
he  invented  movable  type. 

Objection  may  be  made  to  this  statement,  and  the 
declaration  urged  that  movable  type  were  used!  in 
China  before  the  Christian  era.  Possibly  they  were; 
some  declarations  have  been  made  to  that  effect.  But 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     111 

even  if  they  were,  we  cannot  see  that  their  invention 
there  had  any  considerable  influence  on  history.  China 
was  separated  from  western  Asia  and  from  Africa  and 
Europe  by  the  long  stretch  of  the  dry  lands  of  Central 
Asia,  across  which  little  communication  passed.  It 
is  more  nearly  certain  than  most  things  are  in  ancient 
history,  that  the  civilized  peoples  of  western  Asia, 
Africa  and  Europe,  including  Gutenberg  himself,  did 
not  know  of  movable  type  until  Gutenberg  invented 
them. 

It  is  absolutely  certain  that  virtually  the  whole  of 
the  influence  that  printing  by  movable  type  has  exer- 
cised on  history  sprang  from  the  invention  of  Guten- 
berg. It  started  almost  immediately;  and  it  increased 
with  a  rapidity  and  a  certainty  that  are  amazing.  No 
invention  made  before,  not  even  the  gun,  was  seized 
upon  with  such  avidity.  The  world  wanted  it.  The 
world  seemed  to  have  been  waiting  for  it,  though 
unconsciously. 

It  may  be  well  at  this  point  to  impress  upon  our 
minds  the  fact  that  no  invention  has  ever  been  recog- 
nized as  an  invention,  unless  it  has  been  put  into  a 
concrete  form.  The  U.  S.  Patent  Office,  for  instance, 
will  not  award  a  patent  for  any  invention  unless  it  is 
described  and  illustrated  so  clearly  that  "any  one  skilled 
in  the  art  can  make  and  use  it."  It  is  an  axiom  that  a 
man  "cannot  patent  an  idea."  In  many  countries  a 
patentee  is  required  to  "work"  his  invention,  to  make 
apparatus  embodying  it,  and  to  put  the  apparatus  to 
use.  The  underlying  idea  of  the  patent  laws  of  all 
countries  is  that  the  good  of  the  public  is  the  end  in 
view,  and  not  the  good  of  the  inventor;  that  rewards 
are  held  out  to  the  inventor,  merely  to  induce  him  to 
put  devices  of  practical  value  into  the  hands  of  the 
people.  From  this  point  of  view,  which  seems  to  be 
the  correct  one,  the  mere  fact  that  a  man  conceives  of 


112  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

a  device,  even  if  he  afterward  develops  his  device  to  the 
degree  that  he  illustrates  it  and  describes  it  to  someone 
in  such  a  way  that  a  person  skilled  in  the  art  can  make 
and  use  it,  does  not  entitle  him  to  any  reward.  He  must 
use  "due  diligence"  in  communicating  full  knowledge 
of  his  invention  to  the  public,  through  the  Patent  Office, 
ask  for  a  patent,  and  pay  to  the  Government  the  pre- 
scribed fee. 

Now,  Gutenberg  "worked"  his  invention  so  ener- 
getically that,  with  the  assistance  of  Faust,  Schaeffer 
and  others,  an  exceedingly  efficient  system  of  printing 
books  was  in  practical  operation  as  early  as  1455.  The 
types  were  of  metal,  and  were  cast  from  a  matrix  that 
had  been  stamped  out  by  a  steel  punch,  and  could 
therefore  be  so  accurately  fashioned  that  the  type  had 
a  beautiful  sharpness  and  finish.  In  addition,  certain 
mechanical  apparatus  of  a  simple  kind  (printing 
presses)  were  invented,  whereby  the  type  could  be  sat- 
isfactorily handled,  and  impressions  could  be  taken 
from  them  with  accuracy  and  quickness. 

News  of  the  invention  spread  so  rapidly  that  before 
the  year  1500  printing  presses  were  at  work  in  every 
country  of  Europe.  The  first  books  printed  were,  of 
course,  the  works  of  the  ancient  authors,  beginning  with 
three  editions  of  Donatus.  These  were  multiplied  in 
great  numbers,  and  gave  the  first  effective  impulse  to 
the  spread  of  civilization  from  the  Graeco-Oriental 
countries,  where  it  had  been  sleeping,  to  the  hungry 
intellects  of  Europe. 

The  new  birth  of  civilization  (usually  called  the 
Renaissance)  began  in  Italy,  where  civilization  had 
never  quite  died  out,  at  some  time  during  the  four- 
teenth century,  and  took  the  form  at  first  of  the  study 
of  classical  literature.  This  led  naturally  to  a  search 
for  old  manuscripts;  and  so  ardent  did  this  search 
become  that  the  libraries  of  cathedrals  and  monas- 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     113 

teries  in  all  the  civilized  countries  were  ransacked. 
Many  new  libraries  were  founded,  especially  in  Italy, 
to  hold  the  old  manuscripts  that  were  discovered.  A 
great  impetus  was  given  to  the  movement  by  the  exodus 
of  scholars  from  Constantinople,  and  their  migration 
west  to  Italy,  during  the  half  century  between  the  year 


The  Printing  of  Books 

1400  and  the  fall  of  Constantinople  before  the  Otto- 
man Turks  in  1453. 

Therefore,  when  the  news  of  the  invention  of  Guten- 
berg reached  the  scholars  of  Italy  and  other  lands,  they 
seized  upon  it  as  an  undreamed-of  blessing  for  bring- 
ing about  that  widespread  study  of  the  classical  authors 
which  they  had  been  struggling  under  so  many  difficul- 
ties to  accomplish. 

To  narrate  and  describe  the  progress  made  since 
then  in  the  art  of  printing  would  be  to  rewrite  what 
has  been  written  from  time  to  time  in  books  and  maga- 
zines and  papers.  To  describe  and  point  out  the  other 


114  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

arts  that  have  sprung  directly  from  the  art  of  printing, 
such  as  the  manufacture  of  printing  presses  and  allied 
machinery,  would  require  an  enormous  book  of  a 
wholly  technical  nature;  to  describe  and  point  out  the 
arts  that  have  been  made  necessary,  and  the  arts  that 
have  been  made  possible,  by  the  invention  of  printing 
would  entail  a  history  of  most  of  the  industrial  arts 
of  the  present  day;  while  to  mention  and  adequately 
describe  the  measures  that  have  resulted  from  the  in- 
vention of  printing,  and  those  made  necessary  and 
possible  by  it,  would  entail  a  history  of  all  the  civili- 
zation that  has  come  into  being  since  printing  was 
invented. 

The  effects  of  the  invention  of  printing  are  most 
of  them  so  obvious  that  it  would  be  unnecessary  to  call 
attention  to  them.  No  other  one  art  seems  to  be  so 
directly  and  clearly  to  be  credited  with  the  progress  of 
civilization.  In  the  minds  of  many  people,  perhaps 
of  most  people,  printing  is  considered  the  most  impor- 
tant invention  ever  made.  Maybe  it  is;  but  let  us 
remind  ourselves  that  the  gun  came  before  the  printing- 
press,  and  that  the  civilization  contributed  to  by  the 
printing  press  would  not  have  been  possible  without 
the  gun.  It  may  be  answered  that,  nevertheless,  the 
printing  press  contributed  more  than  the  gun;  in  the 
same  way  that  a  bank  contributes  more  to  the  welfare 
of  a  city  than  does  the  policeman  who  guards  the  bank. 

Such  an  argument  would  have  much  to  commend  it, 
and  it  may  be  based  on  the  correct  view  of  the  situa- 
tion. But  to  the  author,  the  gun  seems  to  constitute  the 
foundation  of  modern  civilization,  and  the  printing 
press  to  be  part  of  the  structure -built  upon  it;  for  the 
fundamental  enemy  to  civilization  has  always  been  the 
barbarian,  be  he  a  savage  under  Attila  or  a  Bolshevik 
in  New  York.  It  is  true  that  civilization  may  be  con- 
sidered as  more  important  than  the  means  that  makes  it 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     115 

possible,  but  even  this  seems  to  be  discussible;  but  that 
the  gun  constitutes  more  distinctly  the  preservative  in- 
fluence of  modern  civilization  than  any  other  one  thing 
constitutes  civilization  itself  seems  hardly  to  be  dis- 
cussible. The  whole  system  of  defense  of  all  the  nations 
against  foes  outside  and  anarchy  inside  has  rested  on 
the  gun  ever  since  it  was  invented;  whereas,  not  even 
the  printing  press  can  be  said  to  be  the  only  element,  or 
even  the  main  element,  in  modern  civilization. 

This  brief  discussion  is  perhaps  not  very  important; 
but  it  does  not  wholly  lack  importance,  for  the  reason 
that  it  brings  into  clear  relief  the  fact  that  we  cannot 
reasonably  discuss  civilization  without  realizing  the 
dangers  that  confront  it,  and  have  always  confronted 
it,  and  will  continue  to  confront  it.  Civilization  is  an 
artificial  product,  that  some  people  think  has  more  evil 
in  it  than  good  for  the  majority  of  mankind,  and  that 
certainly  has  been  forced  on  mankind  by  a  very  small 
minority.  The  foundation  on  which  the  force  has 
rested  for  four  hundred  years  has  been  the  gun. 

But  whatever  the  comparative  amount  of  influence 
of  the  gun  and  the  printing  press,  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  they  have  worked  together  hand  in  hand: 
that  one  guarded,  and  the  other  assisted,  the  first  tot- 
tering steps  of  the  Renaissance  movement,  and  that 
both  have  continued  to  guard  and  assist  the  grand 
march  that  soon  began,  and  that  is  still  advancing. 

As  the  circumstances  surrounding  the  invention  of 
both  the  gun  and  the  art  of  printing  are  sufficiently  well 
known  to  warrant  the  belief  that  each  was  made,  not 
by  a  king  or  any  other  man  of  high  position,  but  by  a 
man  relatively  obscure,  and  that  the  surroundings  and 
early  life  of  both  were  not  those  of  courts  or  palaces, 
but  those  of  a  humble  kind,  it  may  be  well  to  note  how 
enormous  are  the  results  that  have  flowed  from  causes 


116  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

that  seem  to  be  very  small.  We  have  been  told  that 
"great  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow";  but  the  conse- 
quences that  have  grown  from  the  conception  of  the 
idea  of  printing  are  larger  than  any  oak;  and  an  acorn 
is  probably  much  larger  than  the  part  of  the  brain  in 
which  an  idea  is  conceived. 

As  a  matter  of  interest,  let  us  realize  the  strong 
resemblance  between  the  impression  we  receive  from 
a  material  object  actually  seen  by  the  eye  and  the 
memory  of  that  impression  afterwards.  Let  us  then 
realize  the  strong  resemblance  between  it  and  another 
impression  of  that  same  object  seen  mentally  but  not 
physically;  for  instance,  let  us  realize  the  strong  resem- 
blance between  the  impression  made  on  us  by  actually 
seeing  some  friend  and  the  impression  received  by 
imagining  him  receiving  a  letter  which  we  are  now  writ- 
ing to  him.  The  first  picture  was  an  image  of  the  ex- 
ternal object  that  was  physically  made  on  the  retina,  as 
a  picture  or  image  is  made  by  a  camera  on  a  screen ;  but 
that  picture  on  the  retina  must  have  been  seen  by  the 
brain,  or  we  would  not  have  known  of  it.  The  other 
pictures  were  not  made  physically  on  the  retina,  so  far 
as  we  know.  Yet  we  all  realize  that  we  can  make  pic- 
tures on  our  minds  the  more  readily  if  we  close  our 
eyes.  The  fact  of  our  eyes  being  open  seems  to  operate 
adversely  to  our  receiving  a  clear  mental  picture. 

Now  it  is  a  matter  of  fact  that  an  object  (for  in- 
stance, a  pole)  can  be  seen  by  a  person  with  normal 
eyesight,  if  it  subtends  an  angle  as  great  as  one  minute ; 
that  a  pole  a  foot  thick  can  be  seen  clearly  from  a  dis- 
tance of  3600  feet,  at  which  distance  it  subtends  that 
angle.  The  rays  of  light  pass  through  the  crystalline 
lens  of  the  eye  and  are  focussed  on  the  retina,  as  they 
pass  through  the  lens  of  the  camera,  and  are  focussed 
on  the  sensitized  paper.  Assuming  the  distance  from 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     117 

the  crystalline  lens  to  the  retina  to  be  about  three- 
quarters  of  an  inch,  the  pole  would  be  represented  on 

3 
the  retina  by  an  image   4  v   36QQ  or  ^ess  t^ian  V^OOO 

of  an  inch  wide.  During  daylight  our  retinas  are  con- 
tinually receiving  images  of  which  all  lines  as  wide  as 
1/4000  of  an  inch  (and  much  narrower)  are  very 
clearly  apprehended  by  the  mind. 

But  very  few  of  those  images  are  noticed  by  us. 
It  is  only  when  some  incident  calls  them  to  our  atten- 
tion, or  when  the  mind  voluntarily  seizes  on  them,  that 
any  conscious  impression  is  made  upon  the  brain.  Sim- 
ilarly, images  of  physical  objects  unseen  by  the  phys- 
ical eye  are  continually  made  on  the  mind:  we  are 
continually  thinking  of  our  friends  and  of  past  incidents 
and  possible  future  incidents;  and  our  thoughts  of 
these  things  take  the  form  of  pictures.  We  see  the 
man  with  whom  we  had  a  conversation  yesterday,  and 
we  see  him  with  a  clearness  that  is  proportional  to  the 
interest  taken  by  the  mind  in  the  conversation  and  the 
circumstances  surrounding  it.  If  our  conversation  was 
uninteresting  and  the  circumstances  tame,  we  see  him 
dimly.  But  if  our  conversation  was  angry  and  the  cir- 
cumstances were  exciting,  we  see  him  and  the  surround- 
ings very  vividly — so  vividly  that  our  anger  is  again 
aroused;  perhaps  to  as  high  degree  as  on  the  day 
before,  or  even  higher. 

This  image-making  is,  of  course,  voluntary  some- 
times; but  most  images  come  without  volition  on  our 
part,  and  require  no  effort  that  we  are  conscious  of. 
To  call  up  an  image  voluntarily  requires  conscious 
effort;  and  to  keep  it  in  position  while  we  gaze  upon  it 
requires  effort  that  is  great  in  proportion  to  the  time 
during  which  it  is  exerted.  Psychologists  speak  of  this 


118  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

act  of  keeping  an  image  in  position  as  one  of  giving 
attention,  or  paying  attention. 

To  perform  this  act  requires  the  exercise  of  will, 
unless  the  act  gives  pleasure,  or  the  image  suggests 
danger;  in  each  of  these  cases,  of  course,  the  act  is 
almost  involuntary. 

A  man  who  is  observant  notes  consciously  the  inci- 
dents that  are  passing  around  him :  he  seizes  on  certain 
of  the  millions  of  pictures  passing  before  him,  concen- 
trates their  images  on  his  retina,  and  gazes  on  each 
one  for  a  while.  Similarly,  a  man  who  is  contempla- 
tive, seizes  on  certain  of  the  vague  mental  pictures 
passing  through  his  mind,  concentrates  his  attention  on 
them,  and  gazes  at  each  one  for  a  while.  We  call  the 
former  an  observant  man  and  the  other  a  thoughtful 
man.  Sometimes  an  observant  man  learns  a  great  deal 
from  what  he  sees,  in  the  same  way  that  sometimes  a 
studious  man  learns  a  great  deal  from  what  he  studies; 
but  the  learning  of  course  cannot  be  accomplished  with- 
out the  assistance  of  the  memory.  One  is  often  sur- 
prised to  see  how  little  some  observant  and  studious 
men  have  remembered.  Many  impressions  have  been 
received,  but  few  retained. 

The  thoughtful  man,  of  course,  cannot  in  the  nature 
of  things  receive  so  many  conscious  impressions  as  the 
merely  observant  or  studious  man;  for  the  reason 
that  he  continually  seizes  on  one  and  then  another,  and 
holds  each  for  a  time,  while  he  fixes  his  attention  on 
it.  Usually,  however,  the  thoughtful  man  memorizes 
his  observations  or  his  studies  for  some  specific  pur- 
pose; he  moves  the  various  images  about  in  his  mind, 
and  arranges  them  in  classes :  for  otherwise,  the  various 
images  would  form  merely  an  aggregation  of  appar- 
ently unrelated  facts.  The  value  of  such  aggregations 
is,  of  course,  enormous;  they  compose  what  we  call 
data,  and  include  such  things  as  tables  of  dates,  etc. 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     119 

But  data,  even  tables  of  dates,  have  no  value  in  them- 
selves; it  is  only  from  their  relations  to  other  things 
that  they  have  value.  There  would  be  no  value,  for 
instance,  in  knowing  that  William  of  Normandy  in- 
vaded England  in  1066,  unless  we  knew  who  William 
was,  and  what  England  was,  and  what  the  effect  of  his 
invading  it  was.  Now  the  thoughtful  man,  like  the  man 
who  arranges  a  card-catalogue  in  such  a  way  that  it 
will  be  useful,  not  only  notes  isolated  facts,  but  puts 
them  into  juxtaposition  with  each  other,  and  sees  what 
their  relations  are.  The  mental  pictures  that  he  finally 
fixes  in  his  mind  are  of  related  things,  seen  in  their  cor- 
rect perspective.  They  are  like  the  pictures  which  are 
made  on  the  mind  of  anyone  by — say,  a  landscape : 
whereas  the  mental  pictures  made  by  an  unthoughtful 
man  are  such  as  little  children  probably  receive  from 
nature;  pictures  in  which  the  trees  and  hills  and  val- 
leys of  a  landscape  do  not  appear  as  such,  but  merely 
as  a  great  aggregation  of  numberless  separate  images, 
confused  and  meaningless  like  the  colored  pieces  of  a 
kaleidoscope. 

To  the  thoughtful  man,  therefore,  life  seems  not 
quite  so  meaningless  as  to  his  neighbor;  though  even 
the  most  thoughtful  can  fix  very  few  complete  and  ex- 
tensive pictures  in  his  mind.  If  his  thoughtfulness 
takes  him  no  further  than  simply  forming  pictures  that 
enable  him  to  see  things  as  they  are,  and  in  their  correct 
relations  to  each  other,  he  becomes  "a  man  of  good 
judgment,"  a  man  valuable  in  any  community,  espe- 
cially for  filling  positions  in  which  the  ability  to  make 
correct  deductions  is  required. 

Such  a  man,  however,  no  matter  how  correctly  he 
may  estimate  any  situation,  no  matter  how  clearly  he 
may  see  all  the  factors  in  it,  no  matter  how  accurately 
he  may  gauge  their  relative  values  and  positions,  may 


120  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

be  unable  to  suggest  any  way  for  utilizing  its  possible 
benefits,  or  warding  off  its  possible  dangers.  That  is, 
he  may  lack  constructiveness.  He  is  like  a  man  who 
possesses  any  desirable  thing  or  dangerous  thing,  and 
who  understands  all  there  is  to  understand  about  it, 
but  does  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  The  various 
factors  are  in  his  (mental)  hands,  but  he  can  make 
nothing  of  them. 

The  constructive  man  can  construct  concrete  entities 
out  of  what  are  apparently  wholly  individual  factors 
having  no  relation  to  each  other;  he  can,  for  instance, 
take  two  pieces  of  wood  and  a  piece  of  string,  and  make 
a  weapon  with  which  he  can  kill  living  animals  at  a 
considerable  distance.  With  neither  the  pieces  of 
wood  nor  the  string  could  he  do  that;  and  he  could  not 
do  it  with  all  three,  unless  he  were  able  to  construct 
them  into  a  bow  and  arrow.  That  is,  he  could  make 
the  weapon  if  he  had  ever  seen  it  made  before.  If  he 
were  only  constructive  and  not  inventive,  he  could  not 
make  it  unless  he  had  seen  it  done  before,  or  knew  it 
had  been  done.  t 

Men  of  purely  constructive  ability  have  not  of  them- 
selves taken  very  conspicuous  parts  on  the  stage  of  his- 
tory; and  yet  the  things  that  they  have  constructed  com- 
prise nearly  all  that  we  can  see  and  hear  and  touch  in 
the  world  of  civilization.  Thus  history,  while  it  is  a 
narrative  of  things  that  have  been  done,  is  not  a  narra- 
tive of  all  the  things  that  have  been  done,  but  only  of 
the  new  and  striking  things.  It  is  a  narrative  of  wars, 
of  the  rise  and  fall  of  nations,  of  the  founding  of  cities, 
of  the  establishment  of  religions  and  theories,  of  the 
writing  of  books,  of  the  invention  of  mechanisms,  of 
the  painting  of  pictures,  of  the  carving  of  statues;  in 
general,  of  the  creative  work  that  man  has  done. 

The  merely  constructive  man,  unless  he  has  been 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     121 

inventive  also,  has  never  constructed  anything  of  a 
really  novel  kind.  It  is  a  matter  of  everyday  expe- 
rience that  nearly  all  the  things  that  are  constructed 
are  according  to  former  patterns  and  the  lessons  of 
experience.  All  the  constructive  and  engineering  arts 
and  sciences  are  studied  and  practiced  for  the  purpose 
of  enabling  men  to  build  bridges  and  houses  and  loco- 
motives, etc.,  in  such  ways,  as  experience  has  shown  to 
be  good.  Nearly  all  our  acts,  nearly  all  our  utterances, 
nearly  all  our  thoughts,  are  of  stereotyped  and  conven- 
tional forms. 

This  condition  of  affairs  possesses  so  many  advan- 
tages that  we  cannot  even  imagine  any  other  to  exist. 
It  enables  a  man  to  act  nearly  automatically  in  most 
of  the  situations  of  life.  The  main  reason  for  drilling 
a  soldier  is  that  when  confronted  with  the  conditions 
of  battle,  he  shall  fire  his  musket  and  do  his  other  acts 
automatically,  undisturbed  by  the  danger  and  excite- 
ment. Similarly,  all  our  experience  in  life  tends  to 
automaticity.  It  is  a  very  comfortable  condition,  for 
it  demands  the  minimum  amount  of  mental  and  nerv- 
ous energy.  The  conductor  demands  your  fare,  and 
you  pay  it  almost  automatically.  That  a  condition  of 
automaticity  prevails  in  nature,  as  we  see  it,  one  is 
tempted  to  suppose :  for  the  seasons  succeed  each  other 
with  a  regularity  suggestive  of  it. 

But  even  if  the  machine  of  nature  and  the  machine 
of  civilization  are  automatic  now,  we  have  no  reason 
for  believing  that  they  always  were  so.  Even  the  most 
perfect  automatic  engine  had  to  be  started  at  some 
time,  and  it  had  to  be  invented  before  it  could  be 
started;  and  it  had  also  to  go  through  a  long  process 
of  development.  Similarly,  a  man  reads  a  paper  al- 
most automatically;  but  it  required  years  of  time  to 
develop  his  ability  to  do  so. 


122  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

Now  it  has  happened  from  time  to  time  in  history 
that  some  invention  has  broken  in  on  the  smoothly 
running  machine  of  civilization  and  introduced  a 
change.  The  gun  did  this,  and  so  did  the  printing 
press.  In  every  such  case,  a  few  men  have  welcomed 
the  invention,  but  the  majority  have  resented  the 
change :  some  of  them  because  their  interests  were 
threatened  by  it;  others  because  of  the  instinctive  but 
powerful  influence  of  dislike  of  change. 

The  purely  constructive  man  does  not  cause  any  such 
jolt.  His  work  proceeds  smoothly,  uniformly,  and 
usually  with  approval.  But  the  inventive  man,  "his 
eye  in  a  fine  frenzy  rolling,"  is  visited  with  some  vision 
which  he  cannot  or  will  not  dismiss,  and  which  com- 
pels him  to  try  to  embody  it  in  some  form,  and  to  con- 
tinue to  try  until  he  succeeds  in  doing  so,  or  gives  up, 
confessing  failure.  The  inventive  man,  having  seen 
the  vision,  becomes  a  constructive  man,  and  (in  case 
he  succeeds)  puts  the  vision  which  he  sees  into  such 
form  that  other  people  can  see  it  also. 

It  is  obvious  therefore  that  two  kinds  of  ability  are 
needed  to  produce  a  really  good  invention  of  any  kind, 
inventive  ability  and  constructive  ability;  and  it  is  also 
obvious  that  they  are  separate,  though  they  cooperate. 
Many  an  invention  of  a  quality  that  was  mediocre  or 
even  inferior  in  originality,  novelty  and  scope,  has  been 
quite  acceptable  by  reason  of  the  excellent  constructive 
work  that  was  done  upon  it :  many  a  book  and  many  an 
essay  has  succeeded  almost  wholly  because  of  the  skil- 
ful construction  of  the  sentences;  many  a  picture  be- 
cause of  the  accuracy  of  the  perspective  and  the  mix- 
ing of  the  colors;  many  a  new  mechanical  device 
because  of  the  excellent  workmanship  bestowed  upon 
it.  Conversely,  many  a  grand  and  beautiful  concep- 
tion has  failed  of  recognition  because  of  the  poor  con- 


INVENTION  OF  THE  GUN  AND  PRINTING     123 

structive  work  that  was  done  on  it.  But  occasionally 
a  Shakespeare  has  given  to  the  world  an  enduring  mas- 
terpiece, the  joint  work  of  the  highest  order  of  inven- 
tion and  the  highest  order  of  constructive  skill; 
occasionally  a  Raphael  has  painted  a  picture  similarly 
conceived  and  executed;  and  occasionally  an  Edison 
has  given  the  world  a  mechanical  invention,  comparably 
wonderful  and  perfect. 

In  all  such  cases,  the  start  of  the  work  was  a  picture 
on  the  mental  retina;  an  image  of  something  that  was 
not,  but  might  be  made  to  be.  A  physical  picture  is 
actually  made  on  the  physical  retina,  but  it  cannot  be 
recognized  by  the  owner  of  the  retina,  unless  a  healthy 
optic  nerve  transmits  it  to  his  brain.  Every  mental 
picture  must  also  be  transmitted  to  the  brain ;  and  some 
mental  pictures  are  very  bright  and  clear.  In  some 
forms  of  insanity,  the  mental  pictures  are  so  clear  that 
the  patient  cannot  be  persuaded  that  they  are  not 
physical;  the  patient  sees  a  man  approaching  him, 
when  there  is  no  man  approaching  him;  but  the  im- 
pression made  on  the  patient's  mind  is  the  same  as 
if  there  were. 

The  thought  of  the  enormousness  of  the  consequences 
that  have  followed  the  appearing  of  some  visions  to 
men  (the  vision  of  the  gun,  for  instance)  is  almost 
stunning,  if  we  try  to  realize  the  small  area  of  the 
brain  that  the  vision  must  have  covered.  If  a  line  1/4000 
of  an  inch  wide  made  on  the  physical  retina  and  after- 
wards transmitted  to  the  brain  is  seen  with  perfect 
clearness  by  the  mind,  what  a  small  area  of  the  brain 
must  have  been  covered  by  the  original  vision  of  the 
gun !  Yet  how  vast  have  been  its  consequences ! 

The  fact  that  the  inventor  sees  a  vision,  and  then 
mentally  arranges  and  rearranges  the  various  material 
elements  available  in  order  to  embody  his  vision  in  a 


124  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

painting,  a  project,  a  machine,  a  poem  or  a  sonata,  in- 
dicates that  the  essential  processes  of  invention  are 
wholly  mental.  This  truth  is  illustrated  by  the  work 
of  every  inventor,  great  or  small.  Possibly,  the  most 
convincing  illustration  is  that  given  by  the  deaf  Bee- 
thoven, who  conceived  and  composed  some  of  his 
grandest  works  when  he  could  not  physically  hear  a 
note. 

Reference  to  the  work  of  Roger  Bacon  has  not  been  made,  because 
of  the  doubts  surrounding  it. 


CHAPTER   VI 

COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS,    GALILEO   AND 
OTHERS 

LONG  before  the  Christian  era  the  Chinese  used 
pivoted  magnetic  needles  to  indicate  absolute 
direction  to  them;  but  that  they  possessed  or  had  in- 
vented the  mariner's  compass,  there  is  considerable 
doubt.  The  history  of  the  invention  of  the  mariner's 
compass  has  not  yet  been  written.  It  is  not  known 
when,  or  where,  or  by  whom  it  was  invented. 

It  is  well-known,  however,  that  the  mariner's  com- 
pass was  in  use  in  the  Mediterranean  Sea  in  the  early 
part  of  the  fifteenth  century  A.  D.  Guided  by  it,  the 
navigators  of  that  day  pushed  far  out  from  land. 

The  first  great  navigational  feat  that  followed  the 
invention  of  the  compass  was  that  performed  by  the 
Portuguese,  Bartholomew  Dias,  who  conceived  the  idea 
of  reaching  India  by  going  around  Africa,  and  sailed 
down  the  west  coast  of  Africa  as  far  as  its  southern 
end,  later  called  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  It  was  a 
tremendous  undertaking,  and  it  had  tremendous  re- 
sults; for  it  demonstrated  the  possibilities  of  great 
ocean  voyages,  proved  that  the  road  to  India  was 
very  long,  and  led  to  the  expedition  of  Columbus,  six 
years  later.  It  was  also  a  great  invention,  both  in 
brilliancy  of  conception  and  excellence  of  execution, 
although  Dias  did  not  reach  India. 

The  second  great  navigational  feat  was  performed 
by  Christopher  Columbus  in  1492.  Before  that  time  it 
was  conceded  by  most  men  of  learning  and  reflection 

125 


126 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS    AND   GALILEO      127 

that  the  earth  was  spherical;  and  it  was  realized  that, 
if  it  was  spherical,  it  might  be  possible  by  sailing  to  the 
westward  to  reach  India,  the  goal  of  all  commercial 
expeditions  in  that  day.  Columbus  is  not  to  be  credited 
with  the  first  conception  of  that  possibility. 

But  that  conception  rested  undeveloped  in  the  minds 
of  only  a  few  men.  Had  it  not  been  for  Columbus,  or 
some  man  like  him,  it  would  have  remained  unde- 
veloped and  borne  no  fruit.  The  Savior  in  his  parable 
tells  us  of  the  sower  who  went  forth  to  sow,  and  tells 
us  also  that  most  of  the  grain  fell  on  stony  ground.  So 
it  is  with  most  of  the  opportunities  that  are  offered  to 
us  every  day;  and  so  it  is  even  with  most  of  the  visions 
that  are  placed  before  our  minds.  But  the  Savior  tells 
us  also  of  other  grains  that  fell  on  good  ground  and 
bore  abundant  fruit.  Such  are  the  conceptions  that 
the  great  inventors  have  embodied;  such  was  the  con- 
ception that  fell  on  the  good  ground  of  the  mind  of 
Christopher  Columbus. 

The  conception  that  came  to  him  was  not  of  the 
possibility  that  someone  could  sail  west  and  eventually 
reach  India,  but  of  preparing  a  suitable  expedition  him- 
self and  actually  sailing  west  and  reaching  India.  The- 
conception  must  have  been  wonderfully  powerful  and 
clear,  for  it  dominated  all  his  life  thereafter.  But  he 
could  not  make  others  see  the  vision  that  he  saw.  For 
many  years  he  went  from  place  to  place,  trying  to  get 
the  means  wherewith  to  prepare  his  expedition.  He 
made  only  a  few  converts,  but  he  did  make  a  few.  Some 
of  these  exerted  their  influence  on  Queen  Isabella  of 
Spain.  She,  together  with  her  husband  Ferdinand, 
then  supplied  the  money  and  other  necessaries  for  the 
expedition. 

The  invention  of  the  gun  was  followed  by  the  in- 
vention of  printing  in  1434,  and  this  by  the  discovery 
of  America  in  1492.  These  three  epochal  occurrences 


128  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

started  the  new  civilization  with  a  tremendous  impetus. 
This  impetus  was  immediately  reinforced  by  the  voyage 
of  the  Portuguese  Admiral,  Vasco  de  Gama,  around  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope  to  India  in  1497-1498,  and  the 
circumnavigation  of  the  globe  by  Ferdinand  Magellan 
in  1519-1522. 

The  immediate  practical  influence  of  da  Gama's  feat 
was  almost  to  kill  the  commerce  of  the  cities  of  Italy 
and  Alexandria  with  India  by  way  of  the  Red  Sea  and 
the  Indian  Ocean,  and  to  transfer  the  center  of  the  sea- 
commerce  of  the  world  to  the  west  coast  of  Europe, 
especially  Portugal.  Near  the  west  coast  it  has  rested 
ever  since;  though  but  little  of  it  stayed  long  with 
Portugal. 

While  Magellan's  voyage  was  not  quite  so  important 
as  the  discovery  of  America,  it  was  not  immeasurably 
less  so;  for  it  set  at  rest  forever  the  most  important 
question  in  geography, — was  the  earth  round  or  not? 
The  voyage  of  Columbus  had  not  answered  it,  because 
he  returned  by  the  same  route  as  that  by  which  he  went. 
But  Magellan  started  in  a  southwesterly  course,  and 
one  of  his  ships  again  reached  home,  coming  from  the 
east.  The  Victoria  had  circumnavigated  the  globe ! 
Only  eighteen  men  and  one  ship  returned.  The  other 
ships  and  the  other  men  had  perished.  Magellan  him- 
self had  been  buried  in  the  Philippines. 

The  news  of  Magellan's  great  exploit  and  the  stories 
that  came  to  Europe  of  the  riches  beyond  the  sea,  re- 
sulted soon  in  an  idea  coming  to  the  mind  of  Hernando 
Cortez,  the  development  of  that  idea  into  a  concrete 
plan,  and  the  making  of  a  complete  invention.  This 
was  a  plan  by  which  he  should  head  an  expedition  to 
a  certain  part  of  the  New  World,  and  "convert"  the 
heathen  dwelling  there;  doing  whatever  killing  and 
impoverishing  and  general  maltreatment  might  be 
found  to  be  convenient  or  desirable.  The  invention 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO     129 

worked  perfectly;  some  half-savage  Indians  of  what 
we  now  call  Mexico  were  "converted,"  many  were 
killed,  and  untold  treasure  was  forcibly  obtained. 

The  success  of  this  invention  was  so  great  that  Fran- 
cisco Pizarro  was  inspired  to  copy  it,  and  to  try  it  on 
some  Indians  in  a  country  that  now  we  call  Peru. 
Whether  Pizarro  improved  on  Cortez's  scheme,  or 
whether  the  conditions  of  success  were  better  need  not 
concern  us  now :  the  main  fact  seems  to  be  that  Pizarro 
was  able  to  convert  and  kill  and  impoverish  and  gen- 
erally ruin  more  effectively  than  Cortez. 

Following  Cortez  and  Pizarro,  many  expeditions 
sailed  from  Spain  to  the  West  Indies,  Central  America 
and  South  America,  and  carried  out  similar  programs. 
The  two  principal  results  were  that  those  parts  of  the 
world  were  soon  dominated  by  Spain,  and  that  the 
people  of  Spain  received  large  amounts  of  gold  and 
treasure.  The  main  result  to  them  was  that  they 
succumbed  under  the  enervating  influence  of  the  arti- 
ficial prosperity  produced,  and  rapidly  deteriorated. 
By  the  end  of  the  hundred  years'  period  after  Colum- 
bus discovered  America,  Spain  was  clearly  following 
the  downward  path,  and  at  high  speed. 

One  of  the  early  results  of  the  invention  of  printing 
was  an  increased  ability  of  people  separated  by  consid- 
erable distances  to  interchange  their  views;  and  a  still 
greater  though  allied  result  was  an  increased  ability  of 
men  of  thought  and  courage  to  impress  their  thoughts 
upon  great  numbers  of  people.  At  the  time  when  print- 
ing was  invented,  the  Church  of  Rome  had  ceased  to 
dominate  European  nations  as  wholly  as  it  had  done 
before ;  but  it  exercised  a  vast  power  in  each  country. 
This  was  because  of  its  prestige,  its  hold  on  the  clergy 
and  the  Church  property,  and  its  authority  in  many 
questions  connected  with  marriage,  wills,  appointments, 


130  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

etc.  This  was  resented,  but  impotently,  by  the  various 
sovereigns. 

It  was  realized  also  (and  it  came  to  be  realized  with 
increasing  clearness  toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  cen- 
tury) that  there  were  many  grave  evils  and  scandals  in 
the  Church,  even  in  the  highest  quarters.  The  printing- 
press  lent  itself  admirably  to  the  dissemination  of 
views  on  this  matter :  so  that  there  gradually  grew  up  a 
strong  and  widespread  feeling  of  discontent.  But  de- 
spite considerable  friction  as  to  the  limits  of  their 
respective  functions,  the  Church  and  the  State  were  so 
intimately  allied  in  every  country,  and  each  realized  so 
clearly  its  dependence  on  the  other,  that  no  movement 
of  any  magnitude  against  even  the  acknowledged  evils 
had  been  able  to  gain  ground.  No  man  appeared  who 
was  able  to  conceive  and  execute  a  plan  that  could  suc- 
cessfully effect  reform. 

But  such  a  man  appeared  in  the  year  1517,  whose 
name  was  Martin  Luther.  He  was  a  poor  monk;  but  a 
knowledge  of  virtually  all  there  was  to  know  lived  in 
his  mind,  coupled  with  imagination  to  conceive,  con- 
structiveness  to  plan,  and  courage  to  perform.  In  that 
fateful  year,  1517,  the  Pope  sent  agents  through  the 
world  to  sell  "indulgences,"  which  remitted  certain  tem- 
poral punishments  for  sin,  in  return  for  gifts  of  money. 
The  agent  who  was  commissioned  for  Germany  carried 
out  his  work  with  so  little  tact  and  moderation,  that  he 
made  the  granting  of  indulgences  seem  even  a  more 
scandalous  procedure  than  it  really  was.  Luther  had 
been  preaching  the  doctrine  of  a  simple  following  of 
the  teachings  of  the  Savior,  and  deprecating  a  too  close 
adherence  to  mere  forms  and  ritual.  He  now  seems  to 
have  conceived  a  clean-cut  plan  of  effective  action;  for 
on  the  evening  before  the  indulgences  were  to  be  offered 
on  All  Saints  Day,  in  the  Church  of  Wittemberg, 
Luther  nails  on  the  door  his  celebrated  ninety-five 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO     131 

theses  against  the  sale.  The  printing-press  reproduced 
copies  of  these  in  great  numbers  throughout  Germany. 
A  definite  sentiment  antagonistic  to  the  indulgences  de- 
veloped rapidly,  and  a  general  movement  toward  the 
reform  of  the  abuses  in  the  Church  took  shape.  Luther 
was  threatened  with  excommunication  by  the  Pope  in 
1520,  but  he  burned  a  copy  of  the  upapal  bull"  in  a 
public  place  on  December  10  of  that  year. 

The  emperor  of  Germany  convened  a  meeting  of  the 
Diet  at  Worms  in  1521,  at  which  he  exerted  all  his 
powers  to  make  Luther  retract :  but  in  vain.  So  great 
a  following  did  Luther  now  have  that,  though  the  em- 
peror put  him  under  ban,  and  all  persons  were  forbid- 
den to  feed  or  give  him  shelter,  he  was  cared  for 
secretly  by  men  in  high  position,  until  he  voluntarily 
came  out  of  hiding,  and  appeared  in  Wittemberg.  The 
emperor  called  a  meeting  of  the  Diet  at  Spires  in  1526, 
and  another  meeting  in  1529.  Both  meetings  had  for 
their  object  the  suppression  of  the  movement  begun  by 
Luther.  It  was  against  a  decree  made  by  the  second 
Diet  that  certain  high  officials  and  others  made  the 
famous  protest,  that  caused  the  name  to  be  affixed  to 
them  of  Protestants.  This  name  has  been  perpetuated 
to  this  day. 

As  is  well  known,  the  movement  resulted,  after 
nearly  a  hundred  years  of  disturbed  conditions,  in  a 
series  of  wars,  called  "The  Thirty  Years'  War"  that 
began  in  1618,  and  ended  with  the  Peace  of  Westphalia 
in  1648.  This  Peace  marked  the  end  of  the  Reforma- 
tion period,  and  resulted  in  establishing  Protestantism 
in  North  Germany,  Denmark,  Norway,  Sweden,  Eng- 
land and  Scotland. 

The  influence  of  Luther's  conception  with  its  sub- 
sequent development  was  thus  definite,  widespread  and 
profound,  even  if  regarded  from  a  merely  religious 
point  of  view :  but  the  influence  it  had  on  religion  was 


132  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

only  a  part  of  its  total  influence.  In  words,  the  protest 
was  against  certain  abuses  in  the  Roman  Church;  but 
in  fact  it  was  against  a  domination  exercised  over  the 
minds  and  souls  of  men.  Luther's  influence  was  in  re- 
forming not  only  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and  the 
practice  of  the  Christian  religion  throughout  Europe, 
but  also  the  conditions  under  which  men  were  allowed 
to  use  their  minds. 

While  the  inventions  in  mechanism,  religion,  etc., 
which  we  have  just  noted  were  going  on  during  the  fif- 
teenth and  sixteenth  centuries,  others  were  going  on  in 
the  realm  of  science.  The  movement  was  begun  about 
1507  by  a  young  man  named  Nicolas  Copernicus,  who 
was  executing  the  dissimilar  functions  of  canon,  physi- 
cian and  mathematician  in  the  little  town  of  Frauen- 
berg  in  Poland.  Copernicus  at  this  time  was  thirty- 
four  years  old,  but  he  had  even  then  devoted  the  major 
activities  of  his  mind  to  astronomy  for  several  years. 
Naturally,  his  efforts  had  been  devoted  to  mastering 
whatever  of  the  science  then  existed.  The  efforts  of 
most  people  in  dealing  with  any  subject  end  when  they 
have  gone  thus  far — and  very  few  go  even  thus  far. 
But  Copernicus  noted  that,  while  the  Ptolemaic  System 
(suggested,  though  probably  not  invented  by  the  Egyp- 
tian king)  was  the  one  generally  accepted,  it  did  not  ac- 
count for  many  of  the  phenomena  observed;  that  none 
of  the  other  systems  that  had  been  suggested  after- 
ward explained  matters  more  satisfactorily,  and  that 
no  one  of  the  systems  was  in  harmony  with  any  other. 

Thereupon  this  daring  young  man  conceives  the  idea 
of  inventing  a  system  of  astronomy  himself,  in  which 
all  the  movements  of  the  heavenly  bodies  should  be 
shown  to  be  in  accordance  with  a  simple  and  har- 
monious law.  Seizing  on  this  idea,  he  proceeds  at  once 
to  develop  it;  and  he  works  on  it  until  death  takes  him 
from  his  labors  in  1543  at  the  age  of  seventy. 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO     133 

The  whole  civilized  world  had  virtually  accepted  the 
Ptolemaic  Theory, — at  least,  the  part  of  it  which 
assumed  that  the  earth  was  the  center  of  the  universe, 
the  sun  and  stars  and  planets  revolving  around  it. 
Copernicus  invented  the  theory  that  the  sun  was  the 
center,  that  the  earth  and  the  other  planets  revolved 
around  it,  and  that  the  earth  revolved  on  its  own  axis 
once  in  twenty-four  hours.  So  great  was  the  insistence 
of  the  religious  bodies  in  adhering  to  the  Ptolemaic 
Theory,  so  set  were  the  minds  of  all  men  of  high  posi- 
tion on  it,  that  though  Copernicus  wrote  a  book  ex- 
pounding his  own  theory,  he  did  not  think  it  wise  to 
publish  it.  He  seems  to  have  completed  the  book  in 
about  1530.  He  did  not  publish  it  till  1543.  Just  be- 
fore its  printing  was  finished,  Copernicus  was  taken  ill. 
The  first  volume  was  held  before  him.  He  touched  it 
and  seemed  to  realize  dimly  what  it  was.  Then  he  re- 
lapsed into  torpor  almost  immediately,  and  soon  died. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  Copernicus  was  not  the 
first  to  conceive  the  idea  that  the  earth  turns  on  its  own 
axis,  or  that  the  earth  revolves  around  the  sun,  any 
more  than  Bell  was  the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  that 
speech  could  be  transmitted  by  a  suitable  arrangement 
of  magnet,  diaphragm  and  electric  circuit.  But  Coper- 
nicus was  the  first  to  invent  a  system  of  astronomy  that 
was  like  a  machine.  It  was  a  usable  thing.  It  could  be 
made  to  explain  astronomical  phenomena  and  predict 
astronomical  events  correctly. 

It  may  be  well  to  remind  ourselves  again  that  no  ap- 
plication for  patent  will  be  granted  by  our  Patent  Office 
unless  the  invention  is  described  and  illustrated  so 
clearly  and  correctly  that  "a  person  skilled  in  the  art 
can  make  and  use  it,"  and  to  realize  that  this  admirable 
phraseology  may  be  utilized  to  distinguish  any  other 
novel  endeavor  of  man  entitled  to  be  called  an  inven- 
tion from  any  other  not  so  entitled;  for  no  system,  no 


134  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

theory,  no  religion,  no  scheme  of  government,  regard- 
less of  how  attractive  it  may  be,  is  entitled  to  be  called 
an  invention,  unless,  like  the  Copernican  System,  "a 
person  skilled  in  the  art  can  make  and  use  it." 

Shortly  after  Copernicus,  came  Johann  Kepler,  who 
was  born  in  Wurttemburg  in  1571,  and  died  in  1630. 
He  had  been  a  pupil  of  Tycho  Brahe,  who  did  not  suc- 
ceed in  making  any  great  invention  or  discovery,  but 
who  did  collect  a  great  amount  of  data.  Utilizing 
these,  Kepler  devoted  many  years  to  the  study  of 
Copernicus,  and  tried  to  invent  a  system  which  would 
explain  some  facts  of  astronomy  that  the  system  of 
Copernicus  did  not  explain,  notably  the  non-uniform 
speed  of  the  planets.  The  main  result  of  his  labors  was 
the  famous  Kepler's  Laws,  which  were 

"1.  .  The  orbits  of  the  planets  are  ellipses  having  the 

sun  at  one  focus. 
"2.     The  area  swept  over  per  hour  by  the  radius 

joining  sun  and  planet  is  the  same  in  all  parts 

of  the  planet's  orbit. 
"3.     The  squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  the  planets 

are  proportional  to  the  cubes  of  their  mean 

distances  from  the  sun." 

These  three  discoveries,  enunciated  in  three  inter- 
dependent, concrete  laws,  constituted  an  invention 
which,  while  it  was  merely  an  improvement  on  Coper- 
nicus's,  was  so  great  an  improvement  as  almost  to  make 
the  difference  between  impracticability  and  practica- 
bility. Without  this  improvement,  astronomy  would 
not  be  what  it  is,  navigation  would  not  be  what  it  is, 
the  regulation  of  time  throughout  the  world  would  not 
be  what  it  is,  and  the  present  highly  intricate  but 
smoothly  running  machine  of  civilization  could  not  exist 
at  all,  except  in  a  vastly  inferior  form.  The  machine 
of  civilization  is  dependent  for  its  successful  operation 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO      135 

on  the  good  quality  and  correct  design  of  every  other 
part.  So  is  every  other  machine ;  for  instance,  a  steam- 
engine. 

The  Copernican  System  was  not  recognized  for  more 
than  a  century.  It  was,  in  fact,  definitely  rejected,  and 
people  were  subjected  to  punishment  and  even  torture 
for  declaring  their  belief  in  it. 

One  of  the  amazing  facts  surrounding  Copernicus's 
invention  was  that  he  carried  on  his  observations  with 
exceedingly  crude  appliances.  The  telescope  had  not 
yet  been  invented. 

Who  invented  the  telescope  is  not  definitely  known; 
but  it  is  probable  that  both  the  telescope  and  the  mi- 
croscope (compound  microscope)  were  invented  by 
Jansen,  a  humble  spectacle-maker  in  Holland.  Both 
inventions  were  made  about  the  year  1590,  and  were 
of  the  highest  order  of  merit  from  the  three  main 
points  of  view, — originality,  completeness  and  useful- 
ness. Few  inventions  more  perfectly  possessing  the  at- 
tributes of  a  great  invention  can  be  specified.  The  orig- 
inality of  the  conception  of  each  seems  unquestionable; 
the  beautiful  completeness  of  the  embodied  form  of 
each  was  such  that  only  improvements  in  detail  were 
needed  afterward;  and,  as  to  their  usefulness,  can  we 
even  imagine  modern  civilization  without  them  both? 

The  interesting  fact  may  now  be  called  to  mind  that, 
although  many  men  who  lived  in  Jansen's  time  were 
loaded  with  honors  and  fame  and  wealth  and  glory, 
the  inventor  of  the  telescope  and  the  microscope  re- 
ceived no  reward  of  any  kind  that  we  know  of;  and 
his  fame  has  come  to  us  so  imperfectly  that  we  are 
not  even  sure  that  Jansen  was  his  name. 

The  man  usually  credited  with  the  invention  of  the 
telescope  is  Galileo,  though  Galileo  himself  never  pre- 
tended that  he  invented  it,  and  though  historical  state- 
ments are  clear  that  he  heard  that  such  an  instrument 


136  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

had  been  invented,  and  then  designed  and  constructed 
one  himself  in  a  day.  It  would  be  interesting  to  know 
just  how  much  information  Galileo  received.  It  seems 
that  his  information  was  very  vague.  If  so,  a  consider- 
able amount  of  inventiveness  may  have  been  required, 
besides  a  high  order  of  constructiveness.  But  the  mere 
fact  that  Galileo  knew  that  such  an  instrument  had 
been  invented  caused  his  mental  processes  to  start  from 
an  image  put  into  his  mind  by  an  outside  agency  and 
not  from  his  own  imagination.  Galileo's  work  did  not 
begin  with  conception,  and  therefore  it  was  not  an 
invention. 

Galileo  was  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  ardent 
supporters  of  the  Copernican  Theory;  and  it  was  on 
his  skilful  and  industrious  use  of  the  telescope  in  mak- 
ing observations  confirming  the  theory  that  his  fame 
mainly  rests.  As  late  as  1632,  nearly  a  century  after 
Copernicus's  doctrine  had  become  known,  Galileo  was 
compelled  by  threat  of  torture  to  recant,  and  was  con- 
demned to  imprisonment  for  life. 

The  influence  of  inventions  on  history  has  been 
greater  and  more  beneficial  than  that  of  any  other 
single  endeavor  of  man.  Yet  most  inventions  have 
been  resisted.  The  invention  of  Copernicus  was  re- 
sisted for  more  than  a  century  by  the  organization 
commanding  the  greatest  talent  and  character  and 
learning  that  the  world  contained. 

The  extraordinary  access  of  mental  energy  in 
Europe  about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury is  illustrated  by  another  invention  virtually  con- 
temporaneous with  those  of  Copernicus  and  Jansen, 
and  also  in  the  line  of  mathematical  research.  This 
was  the  invention  by  Baron  John  Napier  of  logarithms. 

It  was  a  curious  invention — an  invention  the  like  of 
which  one  cannot  easily  specify;  for  the  thing  invented 
was  not  a  material  mechanism,  or  a  theory,  or  anything 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO     137 

exactly  like  anything  else.  It  is  difficult  to  classify  a 
logarithm  except  as  a  logarithm :  —  yet  Napier  did 
create  something;  he  did  make  something  exist  that 
had  not  existed  before;  he  did  conceive  an  idea  and 
embody  that  idea  in  a  concrete  machine.  That  ma- 
chine, in  the  hands  of  a  man  who  understood  it,  could 
supply  extraordinary  assistance  in  making  mathemati- 
cal calculations,  especially  calculations  involving  many 
operations  and  many  figures,  as  in  astronomy.  It  has 
been  in  continual  use  since  Napier  invented  it,  and  is 
used  still.  In  order  to  indicate  the  simplicity  and  the 
value  of  Napier's  invention,  it  may  assist  those  who 
have  forgotten  what  a  logarithm  is,  or  who  have  been 
so  fortunate  as  never  to  have  been  compelled  to  study 
about  them,  to  state  that  logarithms  are  numbers  so 
adapted  to  numbers  to  be  multiplied,  divided,  or  raised 
to  any  power,  that  one  simply  adds  their  logarithm,  sub- 
tracts one  logarithm  from  the  other  or  multiplies  or 
divides  a  logarithm  by  the  number  representing  the 
power,  and  then  notes  in  a  table  the  number  resulting, 
instead  of  going  through  the  long  process  of  multiply- 
ing, dividing,  squaring,  etc.  Of  course,  in  the  case  of 
small  numbers,  the  use  of  logarithms  is  not  only  un- 
necessary but  undesirable;  but  in  the  case  of  the  long 
numbers  used  in  astronomy,  and  even  in  navigation, 
logarithms  are  inexpressibly  helpful  and  time-saving. 
The  mental  feat  of  Napier  consisted  in  conceiving  the 
idea  of  accomplishing  what  he  subsequently  did  ac- 
complish, and  then  constructing  and  producing  the 
"logarithmic  tables"  that  made  it  possible. 

Another  indication  of  the  new  intellectual  move- 
ment in  Europe  was  the  experiments,  deductions  and 
inventions  of  William  Gilbert,  an  English  physician, 
who  lived  from  1540  till  1603.  According  to  the  use 
of  the  word  invention  followed  in  this  book,  only  two 
actual  inventions  can  be  credited  to  Gilbert,  that  of 


138  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

the  electroscope  and  that  of  magnetization.  Gilbert's 
work  was  valuable  in  the  highest  degree,  more  val- 
uable than  that  of  most  inventors ;  and  yet  it  was  more 
inductive  and  deductive  than  inventional.  It  is  not  the 
purpose  of  this  book  to  suggest  that  invention  has  been 
the  only  kind  of  work  that  men  have  done  which  has 
had  an  influence  on  history;  and  the  work  of  Gilbert 
gives  the  author  an  opportunity  to  emphasize  the  value 
of  certain  work  which  is  not  inventional.  At  the  same 
time,  the  author  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  point- 
ing out  that  Gilbert's  work  was  original  and  construc- 
tive, that  it  hovered  around  the  borders  of  invention, 
and  that  it  did  more  to  assist  the  inventors  of  the 
electric  and  electro-magnetic  appliances  that  were  soon 
to  follow,  than  the  work  of  almost  any  other  one  man. 

The  full  influence  of  Gilbert's  work  was  not  ap- 
parent for  many  years;  not,  in  fact,  until  the  discoveries 
and  inventions  of  Volta,  Galvani  and  Faraday  showed 
the  possibilities  of  utilizing  electricity  for  practical  pur- 
poses. Then  the  facts  which  Gilbert  had  established, 
and  the  discoveries  built  upon  them  afterward,  were 
the  basis  of  much  of  the  work  of  those  great  men, 
and  of  the  vast  science  of  electrical  engineering  that 
resulted. 

The  inventions  made  before  the  opening  of  the 
seventeenth  century  A.  D.,  wonderful  as  they  were, 
were  quite  widely  separated  in  time,  and  seem  to  have 
been  wholly  the  outcome  of  individual  genius,  and  not 
the  result  or  the  indication  of  any  widespread  intel- 
lectual movement.  But  soon  after  it  opened,  the  influ- 
ence of  printing  in  spreading  knowledge  became  in- 
creasingly felt,  and  inventions  began  to  succeed  each 
other  with  rapidity,  and  to  appear  in  places  far  apart. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  certain 
writings  appeared  in  England  that  took  great  hold  on 
the  minds  of  thinking  men,  not  only  in  England,  but 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS    AND    GALILEO     139 

throughout  Europe.  The  name  of  the  author  was 
Francis  Bacon. 

It  would  not  be  within  the  scope  of  this  book  even  to 
attempt  to  analyze  the  philosophy  of  Bacon,  to  differen- 
tiate between  it  and  the  philosophy  of  Aristotle  or  any 
other  of  the  great  thinkers  of  the  world,  or  to  try  to 
trace  directly  the  influence  of  Bacon's  philosophy  on 
his  own  time  and  on  future  times.  It  is  obvious,  how- 
ever, that  Bacon  invented  a  system  of  inductive  reason- 
ing that  assisted  enormously  to  give  precision  to  the 
thoughts  of  men  in  his  own  day,  by  convincing  them  of 
the  necessity  of  first  ascertaining  exact  facts,  and  then 
inferring  correct  conclusions  from  those  facts.  This 
seems  to  us  an  easy  thing  to  do,  looking  at  the  matter 
in  the  light  of  our  civilization.  But  it  was  not  easy, 
though  Bacon's  high  position  gave  him  a  prestige 
exceptional  for  a  philosopher  to  possess;  and  this 
smoothed  his  way  considerably.  Men  had  not  yet 
learned  to  think  exactly.  The  efforts  of  even  the  great 
minds  were  of  a  groping  character;  and  fanciful  pic- 
tures made  by  the  imagination  seem  to  have  inter- 
twined themselves  with  facts,  in  such  a  way  that  cor- 
rect inferences  (except  in  mathematical  operations) 
were  hardly  to  be  expected.  Bacon  insisted  that  every 
start  on  an  intellectual  expedition  should  be  made  from 
absolutely  indisputable  facts. 

The  first  effect  of  such  teaching  was  to  make  men 
seek  for  facts.  Not  long  afterward,  we  find  that  many 
men  were  making  it  the  main  business  of  their  lives 
to  seek  for  facts  from  Nature  herself.  This  does  not 
mean  that  men  had  not  sought  for  facts  before  from 
Nature,  or  that  Bacon  alone  is  to  be  credited  with  the 
wonderful  increase  in  the  work  of  research  and  in- 
vestigation that  soon  began. 

Bacon's  principal  book  was  published  in  1620,  and 
called  the  uNovum  Organum,"  or  "the  new  instru- 


140  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

merit."  It  was  obviously  an  invention,  for  it  was  a 
definite  creation  of  a  wholly  new  thing,  that  originated 
in  a  definite  conception,  and  was  developed  into  a 
concrete  instrument.  That  Bacon  so  regarded  it  is 
evident  from  the  title  that  he  gave  it.  Furthermore, 
he  described  it  as  uthe  science  of  a  better  and  more 
perfect  use  of  reason  in  the  investigation  of  things  and 
of  the  true  aids  of  the  understanding."  Bacon  was  a 
patient  of  Dr.  Harvey,  who  discovered  the  circulation 
of  the  blood;  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  Bacon's 
philosophy  did  not  give  to  Harvey  a  great  deal  of 
guidance  and  suggestion  that  furthered  his  experiments. 

William  Harvey  discovered  the  fact  that  the  blood 
circulates  in  the  bodies  of  living  animals.  This  declara- 
tion stated  by  itself  would  convey  to  the  minds  of  some 
the  idea  that  Harvey  discovered  it,  somewhat  as  a 
boy  might  discover  a  penny  lying  on  the  ground.  The 
first  definition  of  the  word  discover  in  the  Standard 
Dictionary  is  "to  get  first  sight  or  knowledge  of" ;  so 
that  the  mere  announcement  that  an  investigator  has 
"discovered"  something  gives  to  many  people  an  in- 
correct idea  of  his  achievement.  Harvey  discovered 
the  fact  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  after  years  of 
experimentation  and  research  on  living  animals,  and 
by  work  of  a  most  laborious  kind.  His  conclusions 
were  not  accepted  by  many  for  a  very  considerable 
period;  but  he  was  fortunate,  like  Bacon,  in  holding 
a  position  of  such  influence  and  prestige,  that  he  es- 
caped most  of  the  violent  opposition  that  inventors 
usually  meet. 

Harvey's  discovery  did  not  of  itself  constitute  an 
invention;  but  the  embodiment  of  that  discovery  in  a 
concrete  theory,  so  explained  "that  persons  skilled  in 
the  art  could  make  and  use  it,"  did  constitute  an  in- 
vention of  the  most  definite  kind.  The  whole  influ- 
ence of  that  invention  on  history,  only  a  highly  equipped 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND   GALILEO     141 

physician  could  describe;  but,  nevertheless,  one  may 
feel  amply  justified  in  stating  that  its  influence  on  the 
science  and  practice  of  surgery  and  medicine,  and  on 
the  resulting  health  of  all  the  civilized  nations  of  the 
world,  has  been  so  great  as  to  be  incalculable. 

A  contemporary  and  acquaintance  of  Harvey  was 
Robert  Boyle,  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  early 
scientific  investigators,  who  was  an  avowed  disciple  of 
Bacon,  and  followed  his  methods  with  conscientious 
care.  His  work  covered  a  large  field,  but  it  was  con- 
cerned mostly  with  the  action  of  gases.  He  is  best 
known  by  "Boyle's  Law,"  which  is  usually  expressed 
as  follows :  "When  the  volume  of  a  mass  of  gas  is 
changed,  keeping  the  temperature  constant,  the  pres- 
sure varies  inversely  as  the  volume;  or  the  product  of 
the  pressure  by  the  volume  remains  constant."  While 
it  has  been  found  that  this  law  is  not  absolutely  true 
with  all  gases  at  all  temperatures  and  pressures,  its 
departure  from  accuracy  are  very  small,  and  these 
are  now  definitely  known.  With  certain  tabulated  cor- 
rections, this  law  is  the  basis  on  which  most  of  the 
calculations  for  steam  engines,  air  engines  and  gas  en- 
gines are  made.  It  is  usually  expressed  by  the  formula 

p  v  =  p'  v'  =  constant. 

Boyle  is  said  to  have  "discovered"  this  law,  and 
Harvey  is  said  to  have  "discovered"  the  circulation  of 
the  blood.  Doubtless  they  did:  but  if  they  had  done 
no  more  than  "discover"  these  things,  no  one  else 
would  have  been  the  wiser,  and  the  world  would  have 
been  no  richer.  What  these  two  men  did  that  made  us 
wiser  and  the  world  richer,  was  to  make  inventions  of 
definite  character,  and  give  them  to  the  world  in  such 
manageable  forms,  that  "persons  skilled  in  the  art  can 
make  and  use  them." 

In  1620,  the  spirit  thermometer,  as  we  know  it  now, 


142  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

was  invented  by  Drebel.  It  is  by  some  ascribed  to 
Galileo.  An  interesting  controversy  has  been  waged 
as  to  which  was  actually  the  inventor.  The  facts  seem 
to  be  that  Galileo  did  invent  a  thermometer  in  which 
the  height  of  water  in  a  glass  tube  indicated  approxi- 
mately the  temperature.  The  tube  was  long  and  ended 
in  a  bulb  at  the  top.  The  bulb  being  warmed  with  the 
hand  of  Galileo,  and  the  open  lower  end  of  the  tube 
being  immersed  in  water,  and  then  the  warmth  of  the 
hand  removed,  water  rose  in  the  tube  to  a  height  de- 
pending on  the  warmth  of  the  air  in  the  bulb.  The 
height  of  the  water  therefore  varied  inversely  as  the 
temperature.  The  defect  of  the  instrument  was  that 
it  was  a  barometer  as  much  as  it  was  a  thermometer; 
because  the  varying  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  caused 
the  water  to  rise  and  fall  accordingly,  and  thus  falsify 
the  thermal  indications.  Drebel  realized  this,  and 
closed  both  ends  of  the  tube. 

Thus  Galileo  came  very  near  to  inventing  both  the 
thermometer  and  the  barometer,  but  yet  invented 
neither!  It  seems  incredible  that  he  should  have  failed 
to  invent  the  barometer,  having  come  so  near  it;  for  he 
had  been  engaged  for  a  long  period  in  investigating 
the  weight  of  air,  and  finally  had  succeeded  in  ascer- 
taining it.  The  barometer  was  invented  or  rather  dis- 
covered by  Galileo's  successor,  Torricelli,  in  1645. 
Torricelli,  in  investigating  the  action  of  suction  pumps, 
constructed  what  now  we  call  a  barometer;  but  it  was 
not  until  after  he  had  constructed  it  that  he  realized  that 
the  height  of  mercury  in  his  tube  indicated  the  pressure 
of  the  air  outside.  Seventy-five  years  later,  Fahrenheit 
made  a  great  improvement  in  the  thermometer  by  sub- 
stituting mercury  for  spirits. 

Meanwhile,  Otto  von  Guericke,  following  in  the 
footsteps  of  Galileo  and  Torricelli,  had  invented  the 
air-pump,  by  means  of  which  he  succeeded  in  getting  a 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS    AND    GALILEO     143 

fairly  perfect  vacuum  in  a  glass  receiver.  This  seems 
to  have  been  an  invention  of  the  most  clear-cut  kind, 
resulting  from  an  idea  that  occurred  to  Guericke  that 
he  seized  upon  promptly  and  put  to  work  to  serve  man- 
kind. Its  influence  in  giving  impetus  to  the  science  and 
art  of  pneumatics,  and  the  influence  of  pneumatics  on 
the  progress  of  civilization,  are  too  obvious  to  need 
more  than  to  be  pointed  out.  The  invention  of  Gue- 
ricke is  a  simple  and  clear  illustration  of  the  "power  of 
an  idea" ;  an  illustration  of  seed  falling  on  good  ground 
and  bringing  forth  fruit  an  hundred  fold. 

One  of  the  greatest  inventors  that  ever  lived  was 
Isaac  Newton,  who,  lived  from  1642  till  1728.  Even 
as  a  child  he  busied  himself  with  contriving  and  con- 
structing mechanical  appliances,  mostly  toys.  As  a 
young  man  he  occupied  himself  mostly  with  studies  in 
mathematics  and  experiments  in  physics,  especially  op- 
tics. In  1671  he  invented  a  special  form  of  the  reflect- 
ing telescope,  called  after  him  the  Newtonian  telescope. 
He  made  many  experiments  in  optics,  in  consequence 
of  which  he  discovered  and  announced  that  white  light 
consists  of  seven  colors,  having  different  degrees  of 
refrangibility.  The  influence  of  this  discovery  on  the 
advancement  of  learning  since  that  time,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  point  out;  but  we  cannot  realize  too  clearly 
that  without  it  much  of  the  most  important  progress 
in  optics  since  that  time  would  have  been  impossible. 

The  invention  by  reason  of  which  Newton  is  most 
generally  known  is  his  theory  or  law  of  gravitation, 
which  he  announced  in  his  Principia,  published  in  1686. 
In  1609,  Kepler  had  announced  his  famous  laws,  that 
reads: 

ul.     The  orbits  of  planets  are  ellipses  having  the 

sun  at  one  focus. 
"2.     The  area  swept  over  per  hour  by  the  radius 


144  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

joining  sun  and  planet  is  the  same  in  all  parts 
of  the  planet's  orbit. 

"3.  The  squares  of  the  periodic  times  of  the  plan- 
ets are  proportional  to  the  cubes  of  their  mean 
distances  from  the  sun." 

Newton  showed  from  the  laws  of  mechanics  which 
he  had  discovered  that,  assuming  the  first  two  laws 
of  Kepler  to  be  true,  each  planet  must  always  be  sub- 
ject to  a  force  directing  it  toward  the  sun,  that  varies 
inversely  as  the  square  of  its  distance  from  the  sun: 
otherwise,  it  would  fly  away  from  the  sun  or  toward  it. 
From  this,  Newton  inferred  that  all  masses,  great  and 
small,  attract  each  other  with  a  force  proportional  to 
their  masses,  and  inversely  proportional  to  the  square 
of  the  distance  between  them,  and  invented  what  is  now 
called  the  law  of  universal  gravitation. 

Another  invention  of  possibly  equal  value,  also  pub- 
lished in  his  Principia,  but  not  so  generally  known,  is 
his  three  laws  of  motion.  These  are 

"1.  Every  body  continues  in  its  state  of  rest,  or  of 
moving  with  constant  velocity  in  a  straight 
line,  unless  acted  upon  by  some  external  force. 

"2.  Change  of  momentum  is  proportional  to  the 
force  and  to  the  time  during  which  it  acts,  and 
is  in  the  same  direction  as  the  force. 

U3.     To  every  action  there  is  an  equal  and  contrary 


re-action." 


It  is  probably  impossible  for  any  human  mind  to 
conceive  any  invention  of  a  higher  order  of  originality 
than  either  of  these  two,  or  to  construct  any  invention 
more  concrete  and  useful.  Certainly  no  more  brilliant 
inventions  have  ever  yet  been  made.  These  two  won- 
derful products  of  Newton's  genius  underlie  the  whole 
structure  of  modern  astronomy  and  modern  mechanics. 
The  sciences  of  modern  astronomy  and  modern  me- 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS    AND    GALILEO      145 

chanics  could  not  exist  without  them,  and  would  not 
now  exist  unless  Newton  (or  someone  else)  had  in- 
vented them. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  that  Newton's  conception  of 
our  solar  system  is  that  of  a  machine  in  rapid  motion, 
of  which  the  sun  and  the  planets  are  the  principal  parts. 

Another  important  invention  ascribed  to  Newton  is 
that  of  the  sextant,  a  small  and  easily  handled  instru- 
ment, used  ever  since  in  ships  for  purposes  of  naviga- 
tion; but  whether  he  should  receive  the  entire  credit 
for  this  invention  seems  quite  doubtful;  for  another 
astronomer,  Robert  Hooke,  is  credited  by  some  with 
the  original  suggestion,  and  John  Hadley,  still  another 
astronomer,  with  having  adapted  it  to  practical  sea 
use.  Numerous  other  scientific  inventions,  however, 
that  have  formed  the  basis  of  much  of  the  scientific 
work  of  later  experimenters  and  inventors  are  clearly 
to  be  credited  to  Newton.  Among  these,  his  formula 
for  the  velocity  of  a  wave  of  compression,  his  color- 
wheel,  and  his  simple  apparatus  known  as  "Newton's 
rings,"  by  which  can  be  measured  the  wave  lengths  of 
light  of  different  colors,  are  possibly  the  most  im- 
portant. 

In  approximate  coincidence  with  the  Renaissance 
movement  and  the  accompanying  awakening  of  the  in- 
tellect of  Europe,  there  began  a  conflict  between  the 
sovereigns  and  the  Pope.  The  Popes  had  gradually 
acquired  great  power,  because  of  their  prestige  as  the 
successors  of  St.  Peter,  to  whom  it  was  declared  our 
Savior  had  given  the  keys  of  heaven.  Coincidentally, 
the  multitudinous  barons  had  gradually  built  up  the 
Feudal  System.  This  was  a  loose-jointed  contrivance, 
under  which  Europe  was  virtually  divided  into  little 
geographical  sections,  ruled  over  by  hereditary  feudal 
lords,  who  in  each  country  owed  allegiance  to  a  sov- 
ereign. By  reason  of  the  slowness  and  uncertainty  of 


146  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

transportation  and  communication,  the  various  feudal 
lords  were  extremely  independent,  and  each  one  did 
substantially  as  he  willed  in  his  little  domain. 

The  situation  was  a  miserable  one  for  every  person, 
except  the  Pope,  the  sovereigns,  the  feudal  lords  and 
their  hangers-on ;  not  only  because  of  the  various  petty 
tyrannies,  but  because  of  the  continual  little  wars  and 
the  general  absence  of  good  government.  Gradually, 
the  sovereigns  got  more  and  more  power  (except  in 
England)  and  the  conditions  improved  so  much  that 
the  people  realized  that  it  was  better  to  be  ruled  by  one 
king,  or  emperor,  than  by  a  multitude  of  barons.  The 
sovereigns  finally  acquired  so  much  power  that  they 
dared  to  oppose  the  Pope  in  many  of  his  aggressions; 
but  no  very  important  situations  were  developed  until 
the  Reformation  caused  the  existence  of  protestant  or 
heretic  sovereigns,  and  the  occasional  excommunication 
of  one  of  them  by  the  Pope,  with  its  attendant  exhor- 
tation to  his  subjects  to  take  up  arms  against  him.  To 
meet  this  situation,  the  theory  of  the  Divine  Right  of 
Kings  was  invented. 

This  was  a  very  important  invention;  for  it  offset 
the  Divine  authority  of  the  Pope  as  Pope,  and  gave  a 
theme  for  the  bishops  and  priests  in  their  discourses  to 
the  people,  and  a  slogan  for  the  soldiers.  It  was  ex- 
tremely successful  for  three  centuries,  and  its  influence 
was  in  the  main  beneficent.  It  worked  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  stable  governments  and  great  nations, 
tended  to  prevent  the  excessive  domination  of  a  re- 
ligious organization,  and,  by  recognizing  the  fact  that 
every  sovereign's  power  comes  from  the  Almighty,  it 
suggested  the  sovereign's  responsibility  to  Him.  At 
first  this  suggestion  evidently  bore  little  fruit;  for  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries  were  characterized 
by  general  oppression  of  the  people,  and  filled  with 
dynastic  wars,  waged  merely  in  behalf  of  monarchical 


COLUMBUS,    COPERNICUS   AND    GALILEO     147 

ambitions.  But  gradually  the  kings  and  the  peoples 
came  to  realize  the  duties  of  sovereigns,  as  well  as  their 
privileges  and  powers.  Gradually  then,  the  view  came 
to  be  held  that  kings  were  bound  to  exercise  their  power 
for  the  benefit  of  their  people. 

Even  the  doctrine  of  the  Divine  Right  of  Kings,  now 
condemned  and  obsolete,  had  a  great  influence  and  a 
good  influence  during  the  time  it  was  in  vogue;  and  it 
supplies  a  clear  illustration  of  the  power  of  a  good 
idea,  skillfully  developed,  to  fulfill  a  given  purpose,  so 
long  as  its  existence  is  necessary. 

Most  men  have  r.  considerable  amount  of  energy, 
but  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  it.  Children  are  in 
the  same  category,  except  that  toys  have  been  invented 
for  them,  and  parents  give  these  toys  to  their  children. 
Without  toys,  children  find  the  days  very  long,  and 
parents  find  their  children  very  trying.  The  useful- 
ness of  toys  seems  to  be  mainly,  not  so  much  in  giving 
children  pleasure  directly,  as  in  supplying  an  outlet 
for  their  energies,  both  physical  and  mental.  For  what 
greater  pleasure  is  there  than  in  expending  one's  nat- 
ural energies  under  pleasant  conditions? 

Possibly,  all  the  work  that  men  have  done  in  building 
up  civilization  is  like  the  work  that  children  have  done 
with  building  blocks.  Certainly  there  are  many  points 
of  similarity.  The  mental  efforts  are  similar;  and,  so 
far  as  we  can  see,  the  results  are  similar  also.  Toy 
temples  have  been  built  of  building  blocks,  and  then 
have  been  destroyed.  Civilizations  also  have  been 
built  and  then  destroyed.  And  in  the  case  of  both  the 
building  blocks  and  the  civilizations,  the  pleasure  seems 
to  come,  not  from  the  result  achieved,  but  from  an  en- 
joyable expenditure  of  energy  in  achieving  it.  In  both 
cases  it  has  been  the  inventors  who  have  pointed  out 
the  ways  in  which  to  expend  the  energy,  and  achieve 
the  results. 


CHAPTER    VII 

THE    RISE    OF   ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND 
CHEMISTRY 

/T-VHE  invention  of  the  first  electrical  machine  was 
•••  made  by  Otto  Von  Guericke,  of  Magdeburg,  about 
1670.  It  consisted  of  a  sulphur  ball,  a  stick  with  a 
point,  and  a  linen  thread  "an  ell  or  more  long,"  hang- 
ing from  the  stick.  The  lower  end  of  the  thread  being 
made  to  hang  "a  thumb  breadth  distance"  from  some 
other  body,  and  the  sulphur  ball  rubbed  and  brought 
near  the  point  of  the  stick,  the  lower  end  of  the  thread 
moved  up  to  the  body.  The  ball  being  removed,  the 
lower  end  of  the  thread  would  drop  away  from  the 
body;  so  that  by  moving  the  ball  back  and  forth,  the 
lower  end  of  the  thread  would  be  made  to  move  back 
and  forth  simultaneously. 

It  may  be  objected  that  Guericke  made  no  invention, 
because  he  did  not  conceive  the  idea  of  making  a  ma- 
chine or  instrument  and  did  not,  in  fact,  produce  one : 
that  he  merely  made  a  discovery.  The  author  admits 
that  such  an  objection  would  have  great  reasonableness, 
and  that  Guericke's  feat  is  a  little  hard  to  class.  It  is 
classed  by  many  as  an  invention,  however,  and  the 
present  author  is  inclined  to  class  it  so;  because  there 
seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Guericke  first  conceived 
the  idea  of  doing  what  he  did  do,  and  that  he  did 
produce  a  device  whereby  an  actual  motion  of  a  rubbed 
ball  at  one  place  caused  actual  motion  at  another  place, 
through  the  medium  of  a  current  of  electricity  that 
traversed  a  conductor  joining  the  two  places.  The 

148 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     149 

device  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  first  telegraph 
instrument. 

Guericke  (like  Gilbert)  was  more  distinctly  an  ex- 
perimenter than  an  inventor, — and  (like  Gilbert)  his 
work  was  not  only  in  electricity,  but  in  most  of  the 
other  branches  of  science.  Of  the  two,  Guericke  seems 
to  have  covered  a  wider  field,  and  to  have  been  more 
distinctly  an  inventor.  His  celebrated  experiment  of 
holding  two  hollow  hemispheres  together,  then  exhaust- 
ing the  air  from  the  hollow  sphere  thus  formed,  and 
then  demonstrating  the  force  of  the  atmosphere  by 
showing  that  sixteen  horses  could  not  pull  the  hemi- 
spheres apart,  indicates  just  the  kind  of  clear  appre- 
hension of  the  laws  of  Nature  that  characterizes  the 
inventor. 

By  some,  Guericke  is  esteemed  the  inventor  of  the 
first  electric  light,  because  by  rubbing  a  sulphur  ball  in 
a  dark  room  he  produced  a  feeble  electric  illumination. 
Of  Guericke's  discoveries  and  inventions,  the  only  one 
that  has  survived  as  a  concrete  apparatus  is  the  air 
pump;  but  it  is  doubtful  if  the  direct  influence  on  his- 
tory of  the  air  pump,  great  as  it  has  been,  has  actually 
been  any  greater  than  the  indirect  influence  of  his  less 
widely  known  discoveries  and  experiments. 

One  of  the  early  influences  of  the  art  of  printing  was 
to  bring  to  the  notice  of  some  restless  minds  the  writ- 
ings of  Hero  and  Archimedes.  In  Hero's  Pneumatics, 
published  more  than  120  years  before  Christ,  he  gives 
such  a  clear  account  of  an  invention  of  his  own,  in 
which  the  expansive  force  of  steam  was  used  to  give 
and  maintain  motion,  as  to  establish  thoroughly  his 
right  to  the  basic  invention  of  the  steam  engine.  He 
described  three  apparatus  that  he  devised.  In  one,  the 
currents  of  air  and  aqueous  vapor  rising  through  a  tube 
from  a  hollow  sphere,  containing  water,  under  which  a 
fire  is  burning,  support  a  ball  placed  immediately  above 


150 


INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 


the  tube,  and  make  it  seem  to  dance.  In  another  ap- 
paratus, a  hollow  sphere  into  which  steam  has  arisen 
from  what  we  now  call  a  boiler,  is  supported  on  a  hori- 
zontal or  vertical  axis,  and  provided  with  tubes  that 
protrude  from  the  sphere,  and  are  bent  at  right  angles 
to  the  radius  and  also  to  the  pivot.  The  inner  ends  of 
these  tubes  lie  within  the  sphere,  so  that  the  steam 


Hero's  Engines 

passes  from  the  sphere  through  the  tubes.  As  soon  as 
this  happens,  the  sphere  takes  up  a  rapid  rotation,  that 
continue  so  long  as  the  steam  continues  to  escape  from 
the  nozzles  of  the  tubes,  which  point  rearwardly.  A 
third  apparatus  was  merely  an  elaboration  of  the 
second,  in  that  the  sphere  was  connected  with  an  altar 
which  supported  a  large  drum  on  which  were  figures 
representing  human  beings.  The  fire  being  lighted,  the 
sphere  would  soon  begin  to  revolve,  and  with  it  the 
drum ;  and  the  figures  on  it  would  seem  to  dance  around, 
above  the  altar.  The  invention  was  probably  to  im- 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     151 

press  the  people  with  the  idea  that  the  priests  were 
exerting  supernatural  power. 

Hero's  wonderful  invention  remained  unused  and 
unappreciated  for  nearly  2,000  years.  About  1601,  an 
Italian  named  Delia  Porta,  published  a  book  that  seems 


Hero's  Altar  Engine 

to  show  acquaintance  with  it,  also  with  the  fact  that  if 
water  be  heated  it  is  converted  into  a  gas  that  can  raise 
water  to  a  height.  In  1615,  a  Frenchman  named  de 
Caus  published  a  book  in  which  he  showed  a  hollow 
sphere  into  which  water  could  be  introduced  through 
an  orifice  that  could  then  be  closed;  the  sphere  carry- 
ing a  vertical  tube  that  dipped  into  the  water  at  its 


152  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

lower  end,  and  ending  in  a  small  nozzle  at  its  upper 
end.  When  a  fire  was  started  under  the  sphere,  the 
air  in  the  upper  part  expanded,  and  forced  down  the 
water  that  occupied  the  lower  part,  so  that  a  jet  of 
water  would  soon  issue  from  the  upper  end  of  the  tube. 
Of  course,  this  was  really  less  than  Hero  had  done, 
because  the  appliance  described  did  not  constitute  a 
machine,  in  any  real  sense  of  the  word. 

In  1629,  an  Italian  named  Branca  carried  Hero's 
invention  a  step  further,  by  inventing  a  simple  appara- 
tus whereby  the  revolution  of  Hero's  hollow  sphere 
was  communicated  to  a  series  of  pestles  in  mortars,  and 
put  to  the  useful  work  of  compounding  drugs.  Branca 
seems  entitled  to  the  basic  invention  of  the  steam 
engine  as  an  industrial  machine. 

About  1663,  the  Marquis  of  Worcester  invented  a 
steam  engine  that  exerted  about  two  horse-power,  and 
was  employed  to  raise  water  from  the  Thames  River, 
and  supply  it  to  the  town  of  Vauxhall.  Six  years  later 
(1669)  Captain  Thomas  Savery  erected  a  steam  en- 
gine about  twenty-five  feet  above  the  water  in  a  mine, 
and  successfully  drew  water  out.  This  was  a  very  im- 
portant feat,  because  the  difficulties  surrounding  the 
problem  of  freeing  the  mines  from  water  were  ex- 
tremely great,  and  the  desirability  of  overcoming  them 
was  equally  so.  In  Savery's  engine,  there  were  two 
boilers  in  which  steam  was  raised,  and  two  receivers 
communicating  with  them.  Steam  being  admitted  to 
one  receiver,  the  connection  with  the  boiler  was  shut 
off  by  a  valve,  and  a  cold  jet  was  then  suddenly  thrown 
on  the  receiver,  condensing  the  steam  and  forming  a 
partial  vacuum.  This  vacuum  the  water  below  imme- 
diately rushed  up  to  overcome.  Connection  with  the 
pipe  leading  down  was  then  shut  off,  and  steam  intro- 
duced to  the  receiver.  This  steam  forced  out  the 
water  from  the  receiver  into  a  pipe,  which  discharged 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     153 

it  above.  This  operation  was  then  performed  by  the 
other  boiler  and  receiver;  so  that,  by  their  continued 
and  alternate  action,  a  fairly  continuous  stream  of  dis- 
charged water  was  maintained. 

This  invention  was  quickly  followed  by  Captain 
Savery  with  another,  by  means  of  which  the  discharge 
stream  was  made  to  fall  on  a  mill-wheel,  as  though 
from  a  natural  waterfall.  Several  of  these  machines 
were  erected  for  actuating  the  machinery  of  mills  and 
factories  in  the  district. 

In  1690,  Dr.  Papin  invented  a  steam  engine,  in  which 
he  used  a  cylinder  containing  water,  with  a  piston  so 
arranged  that,  when  the  water  was  heated,  the  steam 
would  raise  the  piston.  The  fire  being  then  removed 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere  would  force  down  the 
piston.  This  was  followed  shortly  by  an  invention  of 
Newcomer  and  Cawley,  which  was  a  very  considerable 
advance  on  previous  engines.  It  comprised  a  separate 
boiler  and  furnace,  a  separate  cylinder  and  piston, 
means  for  condensing  the  steam  in  the  cylinder  by  in- 
jecting water  into  it,  and  a  system  of  self-acting  valves 
that  were  opened  and  closed  by  a  long  beam  that  was 
moved  by  the  piston.  Furthermore,  this  beam  com- 
municated motion  to  a  pump  that  pumped  the  water  up 
directly.  This  engine  was  so  efficient  and  so  practically 
useful,  that  it  was  very  generally  introduced  into  serv- 
ice for  draining  mines  throughout  England.  About 
1775,  Smeaton  built  an  engine  carefully  designed  on 
these  lines,  of  which  the  cylinder  was  72  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  length  of  stroke  was  10  feet  and  6 
inches. 

In  1725,  Jacob  Leupold  invented  an  engine,  in  which 
the  work  was  done  by  steam  alone,  instead  of  by  the 
atmosphere,  as  in  the  engines  that  immediately  pre- 
ceded it.  Leupold  used  two  cylinders.  They  were 
open  at  the  top  to  the  atmosphere  as  in  the  others,  but 


154 


INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 


he  used  higher  pressures  of  steam,  and  arranged  a  four- 
way  cock  between  the  bottoms  of  the  two  cylinders  in 
such  a  way  that  the  bottom  of  each  cylinder,  in  its  turn, 
was  connected  to  the  boiler  or  to  the  open  air.  Each 
cylinder  actuated  directly  a  separate  vibrating  beam, 
which  in  turn  actuated  the  piston  of  a  pump;  the  two 


Leupold's  Engine 

pistons  acting  reciprocally,  each  drawing  up  water  in 
its  turn. 

In  1765,  James  Watt  made  the  very  great  improve- 
ment of  providing  a  condenser  separate  from  the  cylin- 
der of  the  engine,  so  that  the  great  loss  of  heat  caused 
by  cooling  the  cylinder  and  then  heating  it  at  each  stroke 
was  wholly  avoided.  He  covered  the  cylinder  entirely, 
and  surrounded  it  with  an  external  cylinder  kept  always 
full  of  steam,  that  maintained  the  cylinder  at  a  high 
temperature.  The  steam,  instead  of  being  condensed 
within  the  cylinder,  after  it  had  done  its  work,  was  al- 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     155 

lowed  to  escape  into  the  condenser.  To  facilitate  this 
action,  the  condenser  was  fitted  with  an  air-pump  that 
maintained  a  good  vacuum  in  it. 

In  1769,  Watt  invented  an  improvement  that  con- 
sisted mainly  of  means  whereby  the  supply  of  steam  to 
the  cylinder  could  be  shut  off  at  any  desired  part  of  the 
stroke,  and  the  steam  allowed  to  complete  the  rest  of 
the  stroke  by  virtue  of  its  expansive  force.  This  in- 
vention increased  tremendously  the  efficiency  of  the 
engine :  that  is,  the  amount  of  work  done  with  a  given 
amount  of  steam. 

During  all  this  time,  Watt  had  realized  that  vir- 
tually all  the  work  was  done  on  the  down  stroke,  and 
none  on  the  up  stroke,  and  also  realized  that  it  would 
be  highly  desirable  to  devise  an  apparatus  whereby  the 
reciprocating  motion  of  the  piston  could  be  converted 
into  a  rotary  motion.  Watt  was  able  to  accomplish 
both  feats,  and  to  connect  the  bottom  and  top  of  the 
cylinder  alternately  with  the  condenser  and  boiler  by 
a  simple  mechanism  driven  by  a  wheel  rotated  by  the 
engine.  The  result  was  the  reciprocating  steam  en- 
gine in  its  main  features,  as  it  exists  today. 

The  influence  of  Hero's  invention  on  history  is  not 
direct,  because  his  engine  has/  never  been  employed  for 
any  industrial  purpose.  But  Hero's  engine  has  had  an 
enormous  influence  on  history,  nevertheless,  because  it 
supplied  the  basis  on  which  the  steam  engine  of  the 
last  two  centuries  has  rested.  The  influence  of  Hero's 
invention  was  not  realized  until  two  thousand  years 
after  he  had  died,  and  until  after  all  those  men  had  died 
whose  names  have  just  been  mentioned.  It  is  incon- 
ceivable that  any  of  those  men  could  really  have  ex- 
pected that  their  work  was  to  have  even  a  small  fraction 
of  the  influence  on  mankind  that  it  actually  has  had. 
The  influence  of  Watt's  work  became  visible  to  some 
degree  before  he  died,  and  became  clearly  visible  not 


156  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

very  long  after  he  had  died;  so  clearly  visible  that  by 
many  men  Watt  is  credited  with  the  invention  of  the 
steam  engine.  But  his  good  work  was  built  on  the 
good  work  of  his  predecessors,  whose  main  work  was 
in  making  Watt's  work  possible.  The  successive  feats 
of  all,  like  the  successive  layers  in  the  foundations  of 
any  building,  were  to  support,  in  time,  the  whole  super- 
structure of  the  great  and  beneficent  science  of  steam 
engineering. 

But  the  work  done  by  these  men  was  not  all  the  work 
that  had  to  be  done,  to  make  Watt's  steam  engine  the 
efficient  machine  it  was.  These  men  were  the  men  who 
are  directly  to  be  credited,  but  they  were  not  the  only 
men  engaged.  Neither  did  they  belong  to  the  only 
class  of  men  engaged.  There  was  another  class  of  men 
whose  labors  were  equally  arduous,  and  equally  im- 
portant, though  not  so  clearly  in  evidence — the  physi- 
cists, as  we  now  call  them.  It  was  by  the  knowledge 
which  they  gleaned  regarding  the  properties  of  steam 
and  air  and  water  and  iron,  regarding  the  laws  of  mo- 
tion and  heat  and  work  and  force  and  weight  and  mass, 
that  the  inventors1  experiments  were  guided.  It  is  true 
that  the  science  of  physics  was  then  in  its  infancy,  as  we 
realize  with  the  knowledge  of  the  science  today;  but 
Aristotle  in  the  days  of  Greece,  and  Archimedes  and 
Hero  later,  and  Galileo  and  many  others  in  Italy — as 
well  as  Guericke  in  Germany,  Newton  and  Gilbert  in 
England,  and  others  of  less  note,  had  evolved  a  good 
deal  of  order  out  of  what  had  been  chaos,  and  had 
given  inventors  a  great  deal  of  firm  ground  on  which 
to  stand  themselves  and  raise  their  structures.  And 
reciprocally,  the  inventors  found  themselves  confronted 
with  problems  of  a  kind  that  gave  opportunities  for  the 
physicists  to  show  their  skill  and  knowledge. 

Thus  were  opened  up  promising  avenues  of  investi- 
gation, and  not  only  of  investigation,  but  of  invention 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND    CHEMISTRY     157 

also.  For  it  is  obvious  that,  while  investigation  and 
experimentation  can  hardly  fail  to  secure  data,  they 
may  secure  nothing  else,  and  usually  do.  But  mere 
data  are  mere  facts;  and,  valuable  as  they  are  if  suit- 
ably classified,  they  are  not  valuable  unless  they  are 
classified;  and  even  after  data  are  classified,  they  are 
not  useful  until  some  use  is  found  for  them.  The  data 
in  card-indexes  are  mere  unrelated  facts,  and  are  almost 
useless,  until  they  have  been  classified  and  arranged  in 
boxes  alphabetically  labeled.  Then  they  are  useful 
whenever  any  use  is  found;  when,  for  instance,  some 
one  is  seeking  information  on  a  certain  subject.  In 
this  condition,  data  are  like  material  substances,  in  that 
they  are  available  for  use, — in  fact,  data  are  often 
spoken  of  by  writers  as  "material" ;  a  certain  series  of 
incidents,  for  instance,  supply  "material"  for  a  story. 
Now,  just  as  pieces  of  iron  and  brass  supply  material 
with  which  an  inventor  can  create  a  new  machine,  so 
classified  facts,  or  data,  supply  material  with  which  an 
inventive  investigator  can  create  a  new  theory,  or 'for- 
mulate a  new  law. 

Our  books  on  physics  are  full  of  accounts  of  experi- 
ments and  investigations  conducted  by  such  men  as 
Hero,  Archimedes,  Gilbert,  Galileo  and  many  others, 
the  consequent  discoveries  that  they  made,  and  the 
consequent  laws  that  they  enunciated;  but  those  books 
could  not  possibly  describe  all  the  investigations  that 
have  ever  been  made.  Those  which  they  describe  are 
those  that  ended  in  some  definite  creations,  such  as  the 
hydrostatic  law  enunciated  by  Archimedes.  Most  in- 
vestigations, experiments  and  researches  have  ended  in 
nothing  definite : — most  of  them,  in  all  probability, 
have  not  even  established  facts.  The  investigations 
that  we  studied  about  when  boys  were  such  as  those 
of  Archimedes,  that  presented  us  with  inventions,  in 
the  form  of  useful  and  usable  laws.  No  appreciable 


158  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

difference  is  apparent  between  the  mental  operations 
of  Archimedes  in  inventing  these  laws  and  his  mental 
operations  in  inventing  his  screw:  for  in  both  cases  the 
mental  operations  consisted  mainly  in  conceiving  an 
idea  and  then  embodying  it.  The  Archimedean  screw 
was  a  machine  of  an  entirely  new  kind  that,  in  the 
hands  of  a  man  understanding  its  use,  would  enable  the 
man  to  do  something  he  could  not  do  before — or  en- 
able him  to  do  a  thing  he  could  do  before,  but  do  it 
better.  So  were  his  laws.  The  laws  have  been  util- 
ized ever  since,  as  definite  and  concrete  devices;  and 
to  a  much  greater  extent  than  the  special  form  of  screw 
that  he  invented. 

In  a  like  way,  all  the  laws  that  investigators  have  put 
into  concrete  and  usable  form,  have  been  used  by  other 
investigators  as  bases  for  further  investigations,  and 
by  inventors  as  bases  for  future  inventions.  Even  the 
inventor  of  the  fist-hammer  had  to  know  something 
about  the  material  which  he  employed;  he  had  to 
know  that  it  was  hard  and  heavy,  for  instance,  and  that 
it  could  be  hammered  so  as  to  have  a  point  and  a  sharp 
edge.  He  had  to  know  also  something  about  the  flesh 
of  a  man :  he  had  to  know  that  if  his  flesh  was  struck 
with  a  sharp  hard  instrument,  it  would  be  bruised,  and 
the  man  injured,  and  maybe  killed.  Similarly,  the  in- 
ventor of  the  gun,  and  the  inventor  of  printing,  and 
the  inventors  of  steam  engines,  had  to  know  a  good 
deal  about  the  materials  which  they  employed,  and 
about  the  uses  to  which  their  appliances  could  be  put. 
Naturally,  they  had  to  know  much  more  than  did  the 
inventor  of  the  fist-hammer.  But  the  inventor  of  today 
has  to  know  still  more,  because  there  is  still  more  to 
know.  An  inventor  of  the  present  day  who  knew  no 
more  about  physical  science  than  Galileo  did  would  not 
be  able  to  go  far. 

A  like  remark  may  be  made  about  any  man  in  any 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     159 

-.' 

vocation,  as  compared  with  his  predecessor  in  Galileo's 
time.  The  machine  of  civilization 'is  so  vast  and  so 
complex,  that  the  amount  of  knowledge  which  anyone 
of  us  needs  in  mere  daily  life  is  almost  incredible.  Let 
anyone  try  to  enumerate  ajl  the  facts  he  knows!  The 
attempt  will  convince  him  quickly. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that,  while  modern  civili- 
zation differs  from  ancient  civilization  in  many  ways, 
it  differs  more  in  complexity  than  in  any  other  one  way. 
Some  of  the  factors  of  ancient  civilization  were  as 
good  as  those  of  today;  such  things,  for  instance  as 
temples  and  pyramids  and  stationary  objects  in  gen- 
eral. But  the  ancients  did  not  understand  motion 
clearly,  especially  irregular  motion;  and  they  had  no 
fast  vehicles  of  any  kind.  Their  knowledge  of  statics 
must  have  been  fairly  complete,  or  they  could  not  have 
built  their  temples  and  pyramids;  but  their  records 
show  little  understanding  of  dynamics. 

Now  the  basis  of  dynamics  is  mathematics.  Dy- 
namics is  the  result  of  the  application  of  mathematics 
to  the  observed  effects  of  force  on  bodies,  in  produc- 
ing motion.  Dynamics  is  a  branch  of  the  science  of 
mechanics,  and  a  most  difficult  branch.  It  is  built  on 
the  observations,  calculations  and  conclusions  of  New- 
ton and  a  host  of  experimenters  and  mathematicians  of 
lesser  mentality,  and  it  could  not  have  come  into  being 
without  them. 

But  dynamics  has  not  been  the  only  physical  science 
involved  in  making  the  machine  of  civilization.  All 
the  physical  sciences jhave  taken  part;  and  each  one  has 
taken  a  part  which  was  essential  to  the  final  result,  and 
without  which  the  final  result  could  not  have  been  at- 
tained. The  science  of  light  made  possible  the  solution 
of  our  problems  of  illumination  and  the  development 
of  inventions  for  producing  it;  the  science  of  acoustics 
made  possible  the  solution  of  our  problems  of  sound, 


160  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

including  music,  and  the  invention  of  acoustic  and 
musical  instruments;  the  science  of  heat  made  possible 
the  invention  of  all  the  complex  and  powerful  steam 
and  gas  engines  that  have  revolutionized  society;  the 
science  of  electricity  (including  magnetism)  has  made 
possible  the  invention  of  those  electric  and  electro-mag- 
netic machines  that  have  supplemented  the  work  of  the 
steam  engine;  and  the  science  of  pneumatics  has  made 
possible  the  invention  of  those  "flying  machines"  of 
many  kinds,  that  promise  to  complicate  civilization 
further  still. 

But  let  us  realize  clearly  that  no  one  of  these  sciences 
by  itself  has  been  able  to  perform  any  of  the  feats  just 
mentioned.  Each  one  was  virtually  dependent  on  every 
other  one;  and  all  were  dependent  on  mathematics.  In 
order  to  make  the  steam  engine  work  efficiently,  it  was 
not  enough  that  heat  should  expand  water  into  steam : 
the  mathematical  laws  which  showed  how  much  water 
was  needed  to  secure  a  certain  amount  of  steam,  for 
instance,  and  how  a  certain  desired  pressure  of  steam 
could  be  secured,  had  first  to  be  comprehended  and 
then  to  be  followed.  In  order  to  have  boilers  and  en- 
gines so  designed  as  to  prevent  disastrous  explosions, 
the  laws  governing  the  strength  of  materials  had  to  be 
known  and  followed.  In  order  that  a  projectile  could 
be  so  fired  from  a  gun  as  to  reach  a  certain  predeter- 
mined spot,  the  laws  of  heat,  pneumatics,  chemistry  and 
dynamics  had  all  to  be  understood  and  followed  with 
exactness. 

But  it  was  not  only  the  machines  and  instruments 
that  needed  the  assistance  of  those  sciences,  it  was  the 
sciences  themselves;  because  it  was  only  after  eliminat- 
ing phenomena  caused  by  one  agency  from  those  caused 
by  another,  that  accuracy  in  any  conclusions  whatever 
could  be  secured;  and  in  order  that  the  phenomena 
caused  by  one  agency  could  be  kept  separate  from  the 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     161 

phenomena  caused  by  another  agency,  the  laws  under- 
lying both  had  to  be  understood.  The  science  of  light 
could  not  be  developed  until  the  action  of  heat  was 
fairly  well  understood;  dynamics  had  to  wait  on  statics; 
Newton  could  not  have  contributed  what  he  did  to 
astronomy,  unless  the  science  of  light  (including  optics) 
was  sufficiently  understood;  and  the  laws  of  pneumatics 
could  not  have  been  developed,  unless  the  laws  of  heat 
had  been  developed,  etc.  And  not  one  of  the  physical 
sciences  could  have  gone  beyond  the  state  of  infancy, 
if  the  science  of  mathematics  had  not  been  invented 
and  made  into  a  workable  machine. 

The  paragraph  above  may  be  put  into  a  different 
form,  and  made  to  state  that  all  the  physical  sciences 
have  been  brought  up  to  their  present  stage,  by  sub- 
jecting the  phenomena  studied  by  each  science  to  quan- 
titative investigation.  It  was  by  making  these  quan- 
titative investigations  that  Newton  and  the  others  were 
able  to  ascertain  the  exact  facts  from  which  to  start  in 
their  endeavor  to  discover  the  laws  of  nature;  and  it 
was  from  the  laws  of  nature  thus  induced  that  later 
investigators  were  able  to  start  on  still  further  expedi- 
tions of  discovery  into  the  unknown.  As  the  common 
basis  of  all  quantitative  work  is  mathematics,  the  com- 
mon basis  of  all  the  physical  sciences  is  mathematics. 
This  makes  all  the  physical  sciences  interdependent, 
despite  the  fact  that  each  is  independent  of  the  others. 
Each  one  of  the  physical  sciences  has  contributed  its 
part  to  building  the  machine  of  civilization;  the  part 
that  each  has  specially  contributed  can  be  clearly  speci- 
fied; and  yet,  since  the  machine  is  the  result  of  the 
combination  of  what  all  have  contributed,  their  con- 
tributions are  interdependent.  This  remark  applies  to 
the  various  parts  of  all  machines.  The  piston  of  a 
steam  engine,  for  instance,  and  the  valve  that  admits 
steam  to  the  cylinder  are  entirely  separate  from  each 


162  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

other;  but  from  the  mere  fact  that  they  both  work 
together,  each  one  must  be  designed  and  operated  with 
reference  to  the  other;  so  that  both  in  their  construc- 
tion and  their  operation,  they  are  interdependent. 

Francis  Bacon,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  may  be  said 
to  have  inaugurated  the  system  on  which  the  whole  of 
modern  progress  has  been  based,  and  Newton  in  the 
seventeenth  century  to  have  taken  up  Bacon's  work  and 
carried  it  further  on.  Following  Newton,  only  a  few 
great  investigators  can  be  seen  in  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury; but  in  the  eighteenth,  began  that  intense  and 
brilliant  movement  of  investigation,  discovery  and  in- 
vention, that  has  been  adding  more  and  more  to  the 
machine  of  civilization — and  still  is  adding  more. 

One  of  the  earliest  and  most  important  contributions 
was  an  apparatus  for  measuring  time  accurately.  Who 
was  the  inventor  is  not  precisely  known.  It  seems 
fairly  well  established,  however,  that  Galileo  was  the 
'first  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  vibrations  of  a 
pendulum  were  nearly  isochronous,  and  could  be  used 
to  measure  the  lapse  of  time;  and  that  Galileo's  son 
(as  well  as  Dr.  Hooke,  Huygens  and  a  London  me- 
chanic named  Harris,  in  the  early  part  of  the  seven- 
teenth century)  made  clocks  based  on  that  principle. 
It  is  fairly  well  established  also  that  Huygens  was  the 
first  one  to  make  a  mathematical  investigation  of  the 
properties  of  the  pendulum,  and  to  enumerate  the  laws 
since  utilized  for  making  accurate  clocks  and  watches. 

Most  of  the  investigators  of  the  eighteenth  century 
occupied  themselves  with  studies  indirectly  or  directly 
caused  by  the  invention  of  the  steam  engine,  that  is 
with  studies  relating  to  heat  and  light;  but,  by  reason 
of  the  interdependence  of  all  the  physical  sciences,  their 
investigations  led  them  automatically  into  the  allied 
fields  of  acoustics  and  electricity.  Their  investigations 
led  even  further;  they  led  to  the  establishment,  on  the 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND    CHEMISTRY     163 

ruins  of  the  illusions  of  alchemy,  of  a  wholly  new  and 
supremely  important  science,  chemistry. 

One  of  the  most  important  inventions  of  a  purely 
scientific  character  made  during  the  period  was  one 
that  has  never  been  known  by  any  other  name  than 
"Atwood's  machine."  It  is  an  interesting  illustration 
of  the  addition  of  invention  to  investigation,  in  that  its 
end  was — merely  investigation;  and  it  reminds  us  of 
a  fact  that  many  people  are  prone  to  forget,  that  in- 
vention may  be  applied  to  almost  any  purpose  what- 
ever, and  that  even  a  "machine"  may  be  devoted  to  a 
purpose  not  utilitarian. 

Atwood's  machine  was  the  outcome  of  studies  into 
the  relations  between  force  and  a  body  to  which  force 
may  be  applied.  Galileo  had  shown  that  a  body  sub- 
jected to  a  constant  force,  like  that  of  gravity,  will 
gradually  acquire  a  velocity  and  at  a  constant  rate ;  and 
also  that  this  rate,  or  acceleration,  is  proportional  to 
the  force  (leaving  out  the  effect  of  air  resistance). 
Atwood's  machine  consisted  merely  of  an  upright  with 
a  pulley  at  its  upper  end  over  which  passed  a  cord,  to 
both  ends  of  which  weights  could  be  attached.  In  any 
given  experiment,  a  weight  was  attached  to  one  end 
and  allowed  to  fall  free ;  but  another  weight  could  au- 
tomatically be  attached  to  the  other  end  by  a  simple  de- 
vice, when  the  first  weight  had  fallen  through  any  pre- 
determined distance.  If  the  added  weight  were  equal 
to  the  first  weight,  the  velocity  of  movement  became 
uniform  at  once;  while  if  it  were  less,  the  velocity 
approached  uniformity  to  a  degree  depending  on  the 
approach  to  equality  of  the  two  weights.  While  this 
machine  did  not  establish  any  new  law,  or  prove  any- 
thing that  Newton  had  not  proved  before,  it  supplied  a 
very  valuable  device  for  conducting  quantitative  experi- 
ments with  actual  weights,  and  for  instructing  students. 

The  first  important  improvement  in  the  art  of  print- 


164  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ing  was  made  by  a  Scotch  goldsmith  named  William 
Ged,  about  the  year  1725.  It  is  now  called  stereotyp- 
ing, and  it  seems  to  have  been  successful  from  the  first, 
from  a  technical  point  of  view.  It  was  far  from  suc- 
cessful from  a  financial  point  of  view,  however,  mainly 
because  of  the  opposition  from  the  type-founders;  so 
that  Ged  died  without  realizing  that  he  had  accom- 
plished anything.  Ged's  invention  was  not  put  to  prac- 
tical use  for  nearly  fifty  years  after  his  death;  but  after 
that,  its  employment  extended  rapidly  over  the  civilized 
world.  Ged's  experience  was  bitter,  but  no  more  so 
than  that  of  many  other  discoverers,  inventors  and 
benefactors.  He  did  not  profit  in  the  least  by  his 
invention;  in  fact,  it  must  have  brought  him  little  but 
exasperation  and  discouragement.  But  can  we  even 
imagine  civilization  to  exist  as  it  exists  today,  if  stereo- 
typing had  not  been  invented? 

An  invention  of  a  highly  original  kind  was  made 
some  time  in  the  middle  of  this  century  which  is  at- 
tributed by  some  to  Daniel  Bernoulli,  one  of  the  eight 
extraordinary  investigators  and  scholars  of  that  fam- 
ily. According  to  this  theory,  the  pressure  of  any  gas 
is  due  to  the  impact  of  its  molecules  against  the  walls 
of  the  vessel  containing  it.  Naturally,  the  greater  the 
density  of  the  gas,  and  the  greater  the  velocity  of  the 
molecules,  the  greater  is  the  pressure.  This  theory  has 
greatly  assisted  the  study  of  gases,  and  contributed  to 
the  investigation  of  electric  discharges  in  gases  and 
partial  vacua,  and  therefore  to  the  modern  science  of 
radio-activity. 

In  the  year  1640  there  came  to  the  little  throne  of 
the  Margravate  of  Brandenburg  a  coarse  and  violent 
man,  who  conceived  a  principle  of  government  that 
seems  to  have  been  wholly  novel  at  that  time,  the  prin- 
ciple of  efficiency.  Having  conceived  this  idea  clearly 
in  his  mind,  he  proceeded  to  develop  it  into  a  system 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     165 

of  administration,  in  spite  of  opposition  of  all  kinds, 
especially  inertia.  He  ruled  till  1688.  He  found 
Brandenburg  unimportant,  disordered  and  poor;  he  left 
Brandenburg  comparatively  rich,  with  a  good  army,  an 
excellent  corps  of  administrators,  a  very  efficient  gov- 
ernment, and  a  recognized  standing  before  the  world. 
For  his  contribution  to  the  cause  of  good  government, 
he  is  known  in  history  as  The  Great  Elector.  He 
might  be  called,  with  much  reasonableness,  the  inventor 
of  governmental  efficiency,  if  Julius  Caesar  had  not  in 
some  degree  forestalled  him. 

He  was  followed  by  his  son,  who  contributed  nothing 
to  this  cause  or  to  any  other,  but  who  was  able  to  take 
advantage  of  his  father's  work  and  be  crowned  as  King 
of  Prussia.  He  was  followed  by  his  son,  King  Freder- 
ick William  I,  who  was  a  man  like  the  Great  Elector, 
his  grandfather,  in  the  essential  points  of  character, 
both  good  and  bad. 

He  was  somewhat  like  Philip  of  Macedon  also;  for 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  making  his  army  according  to 
a  certain  pattern,  novel  at  that  time,  though  consid- 
erably like  the  pattern  that  Philip  had  employed.  The 
likeness  was  in  so  organizing  and  training  the  soldiers 
that  a  regiment  or  division  could  be  handled  like  a  co- 
herent and  even  rigid  thing,  directed  accurately  and 
quickly  at  a  pre-determined  point,  and  made  to  hit  an 
enemy  at  that  point  with  a  force  somewhat  like  the 
blow  of  an  enormous  club.  He  succeeded  during  his 
reign  of  twenty-seven  years  in  developing  his  concep- 
tion into  such  a  perfect  and  concrete  reality,  that  he 
was  able  on  his  death  in  1740  to  bequeath  to  his  son  a 
veritable  military  machine — the  first  since  the  days  of 
Rome. 

These  two  Frederick  Williams  were  inventors  in  the 
broad  sense  of  the  word,  and  made  inventions  that 
have  had  an  influence  on  history  since  they  died,  as 


166  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

great  as  that  of  almost  any  other  contemporary  inven- 
tions that  can  be  specified.  Their  immediate  influence 
was  to  make  it  possible  for  the  son  of  King  Frederick 
William,  Frederick  the  Great,  to  put  Prussia  in  the  first 
rank  among  the  nations,  and  to  lay  the  foundations  of 
the  German  Empire. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  ultimate  result  was  not 
extremely  great,  after  all,  because  the  German  Empire 
fell  in  1918.  To  this  possible  objection,  it  may  be 
answered  that,  nevertheless,  the  doings  of  Prussia  and 
the  German  Empire  have  had  an  enormous  influence  up 
to  the  present  time;  and  that,  though  the  empire  itself 
has  ceased,  the  influence  of  its  policies  and  doctrines,  of 
its  military  system,  and,  above  all,  of  its  doctrine  of 
efficiency  in  government  has  not  ceased,  and  shows  no 
signs  of  ceasing.  Besides,  history  still  is  young. 

Frederick  the  Great  made  no  inventions  in  improv- 
ing the  military  machine  bequeathed  him;  but  he  did 
operate  it  with  inventiveness,  daring  and  success.  He 
showed  these  qualities  in  his  actual  operations  in  the 
field;  but  he  showed  inventiveness  in  an  equal  degree 
before  those  operations  took  place,  in  the  plans  which 
he  prepared.  .As  a  tactician,  Frederick  could  hardly 
help  being  good,  in  view  of  the  training  he  had  re- 
ceived and  the  military  atmosphere  in  which  he  had 
been  born  and  bred.  But  no  amount  of  training  could 
have  given  Frederick  the  brilliant  and  yet  correct  im- 
agination that  enabled  him  to  see  entire  situations 
clearly  and  accurately  with  his  mental  eye ;  that  en- 
abled him  to  form  a  correct  picture  of  the  mission  in 
each  case,  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  accomplishing 
it,  and  the  facilities  available  for  his  use.  And,  equally, 
no  amount  of  training  or  knowledge  or  experience 
could  of  themselves  have  given  him  the  constructive 
ability  necessary  to  build  up  such  plans  as  he  built  up, 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     167 

for  accomplishing  the  mission  with  the  facilities  avail- 
able and  in  spite  of  the  difficulties. 

Frederick's  first  invention  was  his  successful  invasion 
of  Silesia.  This  may  be  called  by  some  "an  invention 
of  the  devil,"  and  perhaps  it  was  inspired  by  him.  But 
even  if  Frederick's  conception  came  straight  from  the 
devil,  it  was  a  brilliant  conception,  nevertheless,  as  the 
conceptions  of  the  devil  himself  are  popularly  supposed 
to  be.  So  original  in  conception  and  so  perfect  in  de- 
velopment was  Frederick's  invented  plan,  that  he  had 
seized  the  capital  of  Silesia  before  Austria  had  taken 
any  real  defensive  measures  of  any  kind. 

During  the  first  half  of  Frederick's  reign,  or  twenty- 
three  years  (from  1740  to  1763),  he  was  engaged  con- 
tinually in  war  or  preparation  for  war;  and  in  both 
activities  he  had  to  plan  to  fight  against  odds  that 
often  seemed  overwhelming.  They  would  have  over- 
whelmed any  man,  except  a  man  like  Frederick.  It  is 
true  that  Frederick  had  two  advantages,  the  best 
trained  army,  and  the  fact  that  all  his  forces,  military 
and  political,  were  united  under  one  head — his  own. 
But  it  is  the  verdict  of  history  that  even  these  advan- 
tages were  far  from  sufficient  to  explain  his  victories; 
that  his  victories  cannot  be  explained  except  on  the 
ground  that  Frederick  showed  a  generalship  superior 
to  that  of  his  foes.  In  what  did  its  superiority  consist? 
A  careful  study  of  his  campaigns,  even  if  it  be  not  in 
detail,  shows  that  Frederick  was  able  to  invent  better 
plans  than  his  adversaries,  to  invent  them  more  quickly, 
and  to  carry  them  into  effect  more  promptly.  If  he 
had  been  born  under  other  stars,  he  might  have  exer- 
cised his  inventiveness  in  such  ways  as  men  like  Gue- 
ricke,  for  instance,  did;  as  is  shown  by  his  gathering 
around  him,  in  the  peaceful  period  of  the  latter  half 
of  his  reign,  a  company  selected  from  the  most  emi- 
nent philosophers  and  scientists  of  the  age;  and  as  is 


168  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

shown  with  equal  clearness  by  his  admirably  conceived 
and  executed  measures  for  the  better  government  of  his 
country. 

The  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  is  especially 
distinguished  by  the  success  of  some  extraordinary  and 
brilliant  experiments  with  electrical  apparatus.  One  of 
the  most  important  in  results  occurred  about  1746,  in 
the  town  of  Leyden,  where  Muschenbroek  invented  a 
device  that  made  possible  the  accumulating  and  pre- 
serving of  charges  of  electricity.  This  appliance  con- 
sisted of  merely  a  glass  jar,  coated  on  the  outside  and 
the  inside  with  tin  foil.  It  was  a  most  important  in- 
vention, and  it  is  still  in  general  use,  and  called  the 
Leyden  jar. 

The  Leyden  jar  was  soon  put  to  practical  work  in 
electrical  investigations,  notably  by  the  Royal  Society 
in  London;  and  many  valuable  demonstrations  were 
made  with  it.  Among  these  were  the  firing  of  gun- 
powder by  the  electric  spark  that  passed  when  both 
surfaces  of  tin  foil  were  connected  by  an  external  con- 
ductor; and  the  transfer  of  the  spark  over  a  distance  of 
two  miles,  by  using  one  discharging  conductor  or  wire 
two  miles  long,  the  earth  acting  as  the  return  conductor. 

But  the  greatest  results  came  from  the  investiga- 
tions of  Benjamin  Franklin,  who  proved  that  there  was 
only  one  kind  of  electricity,  that  the  two  coatings  of 
tin  foil  were  both  charged  with  it,  that  one  had  more 
than  its  ordinary  quantity,  while  the  other  had  less,  and 
that  the  spark  was  caused  by  the  transfer  of  electricity 
from  one  coating  to  the  other.  These  discoveries  were 
as  much  as  any  one  discoverer  might  reasonably  be  ex- 
pected to  contribute ;  but  Franklin  soon  followed  them 
by  his  discovery  of  the  power  of  points  to  collect  and 
discharge  electricity.  He  then  pointed  out  with  extraor- 
dinary clearness  the  fact  that  all  the  phenomena  which 
had  been  produced  by  electricity  were  like  those  pro- 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND   CHEMISTRY     169 

duced  by  lightning;  and  made  the  suggestion  that  light- 
ning and  electricity  were  identical. 

This  was  an  interesting  suggestion,  but  a  suggestion 
only.  To  make  it  into  a  theory,  or  prove  it  as  a  law, 
an  invention  was  required.  Franklin  made  the  inven- 
tion. He  conceived  the  idea  of  bringing  down  the  elec- 
tricity, with  which  he  imagined  that  a  storm-cloud  was 
charged,  by  means  of  a  long  conductor,  and  of  draw- 
ing off  a  spark  from  the  lower  end  of  the  conductor  as 
from  an  electrical  machine.  The  long  conductor  he 
had  in  mind  was  a  high  spire  that  was  about  to  be 
erected  in  Philadelphia.  The  erection  of  the  spire 
being  delayed,  his  imagination  presented  to  his  mind 
the  picture  of  a  kite  flying  near  the  cloud,  and  the 
charge  flowing  down  the  cord,  made  into  a  conductor 
by  the  accompanying  rain.  Forthwith,  he  embodied  his 
conception  in  definite  form  by  preparing  a  kite  to  which 
was  connected  a  long  cord,  that  ended  with  a  piece  of 
non-conducting  silk,  that  was  to  be  held  in  the  hand,  and 
kept  dry  if  possible,  and  a  key  that  was  secured  to  the 
junction  of  the  conducting  cord  and  the  non-conducting 
silk.  The  expectation  was  that  the  key  would  receive 
the  charge  from  the  cloud  and  give  it  out  as  a  spark,  if 
Franklin  applied  to  it  the  knuckle  of  his  disengaged 
hand.  The  invention  was  a  perfect  success  in  every 
way;  sparks  were  given  off,  a  Leyden  jar  was  charged, 
and  subsequent  discharges  of  the  Leyden  jar  were  made 
to  perform  the  same  electrical  feats  as  jars  charged 
from  ordinary  electrical  machines.  (June,  1752.) 

The  courage  shown  by  Franklin  in  performing  this 
experiment  may  here  be  pointed  out.  To  the  eye  of  a 
casual  observer,  he  must  have  been  trying  to  get  struck 
by  lightning. 

This  brilliant  invention  caused  Franklin  to  conceive 
another  brilliant  invention,  the  utilization  of  the  dis- 
covery he  had  just  made  in  combination  with  his  pre- 


170  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

vious  discovery  of  the  power  of  points  to  collect  elec- 
tricity. He  embodied  his  conception  in  what  we  now 
call  "lightning  rods,"  by  erecting  on  the  highest  points 
of  houses  thin  metal  rods  or  conductors,  the  lower  ends 
of  which  were  buried  in  the  earth,  while  their  upper 
ends  were  sharpened  to  points,  and  made  to  project 
upward,  above  the  houses.  Franklin's  theory  was  that 
the  points  would  collect  the  electricity  from  the  clouds 
and  allow  it  to  pass  harmlessly  through  the  conductors 
into  the  ground.  The  invention  worked  perfectly,  and 
has  been  utilized  everywhere  ever  since. 

Naturally,  Franklin's  epochal  discoveries  stirred  the 
scientific  world  in  Europe,  and  gave  a  great  impetus  to 
the  study  of  electricity  and  the  other  physical  sciences. 
One  of  the  earliest  important  discoveries  that  followed 
(made  by  Mr.  Cavendish)  was  that  the  electrical  spark 
could  decompose  water  and  atmospheric  air,  and  make 
water  by  exploding  mixtures  of  oxygen  and  hydrogen. 
An  epochal  discovery  was  made  by  Mr.  Cavendish 
about  1787,  when  he  exploded  a  mixture  of  oxygen  and 
nitrogen  and  obtained  nitric  acid. 

In  1790  Galvani  discovered  that,  if  two  dissimilar 
metals  were  placed  in  contact  at  one  end  of  each,  and 
if  the  free  ends  are  put  into  contact  with  the  main  nerve 
of  a  frog's  hind  leg  and  the  thigh  muscle  respectively, 
spasmodic  muscular  movements  would  ensue.  In  in- 
vestigating the  cause  of  this  phenomenon,  Volta  dis- 
covered that  if  the  lower  ends  of  two  dissimilar  metals 
were  immersed  in  a  liquid  they  would  assume  opposite 
electrical  states;  so  that  if  their  outer  ends  were  joined 
by  a  conducting  wire,  electricity  would  pass  along  it. 
This  led  him  at  once  to  the  invention  of  the  Voltaic 
cell.  The  enormous  value  of  the  Voltaic  cell  in  build- 
ing up  the  science  of  electricity  need  hardly  be  pointed 
out.  It  is  still  used  in  electric  telegraphy  as  a  source 
of  current. 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM    AND    CHEMISTRY     171 

During  the  eighteenth  century,  the  relations  between 
chemistry  and  heat  were  very  ill  defined;  but  they  were 
cleared  up  gradually  by  the  researches  of  such  men  as 
Black  in  Scotland,  Priestley  and  Cavendish  in  England, 
and  Lavoisier  in  France.  Black's  work  was  mainly  in 
making  investigations  of  the  phenomena  of  heat.  In 
the  course  of  them  he  discovered  the  important  fact 
that  different  substances  require  different  amounts  of 
heat  to  be  applied  to  a  given  mass  to  raise  its  tempera- 
ture 1°.  From  this  discovery  arose  the  science  of 
calorimetry,  which  deals  with  the  specific  heats  of  all 
substances,  solid,  liquid  and  gaseous,  and  which  is 
necessary  to  the  present  science  of  heat  and  the  arts 
that  depend  upon  it.  About  1774  Dr.  Priestley  dis- 
covered oxygen. 

Lavoisier  prosecuted  rigorous  researches  in  heat  and 
chemistry,  and  finally  made  a  discovery  that  cleared 
up  a  great  fog  of  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of  oxidation, 
by  proving  that  it  consisted  in  an  actual  attack  on  a 
metal  by  oxygen,  and  that  the  increased  weight  result- 
ing from  oxidation  was  that  of  the  oxygen  that  became 
associated  with  the  metal  in  the  form  of  rust.  He 
therefore  disproved  the  theory  formerly  loosely  held 
that  the  increase  in  weight  was  due  to  the  escape  of  a 
spirituous  substance  which  the  chemists  of  that  day 
imagined  to  depart  from  the  metal,  and  called  by  the 
name  phlogiston.  An  analogous  and  equally  valuable 
contribution  by  Lavoisier  was  that  of  introducing  the 
use  of  exact  measurements  into  the  study  of  chemistry. 
The  result  of  his  labors  was  to  put  the  science  of 
chemistry  on  a  new  basis  and  to  separate  it  from 
physics  entirely. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  Lavoisier  would  live  and 
die  in  great  honor.  He  lived  in  comparative  obscurity, 
and  was  publicly  guillotined  on  a  false  accusation.  He 
requested  a  brief  respite,  in  order  to  complete  an  im- 


172  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

portant  experiment,  and  was  told  in  answer  that  "the 
Republic  has  no  need  of  philosophers."  This  was 
France's  reward  for  one  of  the  most  useful  lives  that 
has  ever  been  lived. 

One  of  the  most  important  industrial  inventions  ever 
produced  and  one  of  the  first  of  the  long  list  of  in- 
ventions for  making  things  by  machinery  that  had  for- 
merly been  made  by  hand,  was  the  spinning  machine, 
that  was  invented  by  Dr.  Paul  in  England  about  1738. 
Spinning  is  an  exceedingly  ancient  art,  and  consists  in 
forming  continuous  lengths  of  thread  by  drawing  out 
and  twisting  together  filaments  of  such  material  as 
wool,  cotton,  flax,  etc.  This  art  was  practiced  in  many 
of  the  ancient  countries;  and  it  seems  to  have  been 
practiced  in  essentially  the  same  way  in  England  in  the 
eighteenth  century  A.  D.,  as  in  Egypt  and  Assyria  long 
before  the  eighteenth  century  B.  C.  About  1738  Dr. 
Lewis  Paul  invented  and  patented  a  simple  mechanism 
that  anyone  with  imagination  could  have  invented  at 
any  time  during  the  two  or  three  thousand  years  before, 
in  which  the  filaments  were  drawn  between  rollers.  The 
invention  seems  to  have  been  moderately  successful 
from  the  start;  for  it  is  stated  that  in  1742  a  spinning 
mill  was  in  operation  in  Birmingham  in  which  ten  girls 
were  employed,  and  in  which  the  motive  power  was 
supplied  by  two  asses.  Paul's  invention  was  improved 
by  a  weaver  named  Hargreaves,  who  invented  the 
"spinning  Jenny";  and  it  was  later  brought  to  a  high 
state  of  efficiency  and  value  by  an  invention  of  a  poor 
and  wholly  uneducated  barber,  named  Richard  Ark- 
wright.  The  spinning  machines  of  the  present  day  are 
of  the  highest  order  of  intricacy,  efficiency  and  useful- 
ness ;  but  they  are  all  based  directly  on  the  invention  of 
Arkwright,  and  his  was  based  on  the  previous  inven- 
tions of  Paul  and  Hargreaves.  Few  persons  have  con- 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND    CHEMISTRY     173 

tributed  so  much  as  these  three  men  of  humble  station 
to  the  comfort  and  well-being  of  the  race. 

On  July  3,  1775,  George  Washington  arrived  at 
Cambridge,  near  Boston,  and  took  command  of  an 
army  of  about  17,000  men  that  faced  a  British  army 
occupying  Boston.  Washington  devoted  his  energies 
to  organizing  and  training  his  motley  force  during  the 
ensuing  fall  and  winter,  the  enemy  making  no  decided 
move  to  drive  him  off.  Finally,  on  March  4,  1776, 
having  conceived  a  plan  that  promised  success  to  him, 
he  suddenly  seized  and  fortified  Dorchester  Heights, 
about  two  miles  south  of  Boston,  from  which  he  could 
command  the  whole  of  Boston  and  the  channel  south 
of  it,  by  means  of  guns  which  he  had  ordered,  to  be 
dragged  through  the  snow  from  Ticonderoga.  His 
plan  worked  perfectly;  for  the  British  General  Howe, 
after  a  vain  attempt  to  drive  Washington  away,  evac- 
uated Boston  himself,  and  took  his  army  to  Halifax. 

This  was  Washington's  opening  move  in  our  War 
of  the  Revolution.  It  was  the  execution  of  a  plan 
admirably  conceived.  There  may  seem  little  of  origi- 
nality or  brilliancy  in  it  to  us  now,  looking  at  a  map  of 
Boston  in  the  quiet  and  safety  of  a  library,  but  there 
must  have  been  a  great  deal  of  merit  and  originality 
in  it;  for  it  took  a  British  major-general  completely  by 
surprise,  and  compelled  him  to  evacuate  an  important 
stronghold  with  a  precipitancy  that  must  have  been 
distinctly  galling  to  British  pride.  Few  neater  feats 
of  strategy  can  be  found  in  military  history. 

Washington's  next  feat  was  in  extricating  his  force 
from  a  distinctly  perilous  position  in  Brooklyn  in  front 
of  a  superior  British  force,  retreating  across  the  East 
River  to  New  York,  and  landing  near  what  is  now 
called  Fulton  Street.  This  was  on  August  30,  1776. 
The  next  three  months  were  spent  in  maneuvers  that 
showed  great  clearness  in  conception  and  great  energy 


174  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

in  execution  on  Washington's  part,  and  ended  with  his 
occupying  Trenton,  and  Howe  occupying  New  York 
with  the  bulk  of  his  forces.  Washington  had  only  a 
little  more  than  4,000  men,  while  Howe  had  30,000. 
Washington's  troops  were  discouraged,  half-ragged, 
underfed  and  untrained;  Howe's  were  elated,  well 
clad,  well  fed  and  thoroughly  trained.  Washington 
was  in  as  dangerous  a  plight  as  can  easily  be  imagined. 
He  extricated  himself  by  conceiving  and  carrying  into 
execution  the  brilliant  plan  of  crossing  the  Delaware 
River  on  Christmas  night,  forcing  his  way  through 
floating  ice,  and  falling  on  the  amazed  camp  of  the 
Hessians  on  the  other  side.  His  invention  worked 
perfectly,  and  effected  almost  a  complete  reversal  in 
the  relative  conditions  of  the  opposing  forces;  for  it 
put  the  British  on  the  defensive,  and  made  them  with- 
draw all  their  forces  from  New  Jersey. 

Thenceforward,  Washington,  by  the  exercise  of  im- 
agination, constructiveness  and  sheet  force  of  will, 
fought  a  continual  fight  against  forces  that  were  su- 
perior in  material  and  training,  but  inferior  in  men- 
tality. Finally,  in  August,  1781,  the  crisis  came.  The 
British  were  occupying  New  York,  and  Washington 
was  in  front  of  it,  threatening  to  attack  it,  but  knowing 
that  he  could  not  do  so  with  success.  About  August  14 
he  received  a  letter  written  in  July  by  Admiral  Comte 
de  Grasse,  then  in  the  West  Indies,  saying  that  he  would 
start  with  his  fleet  and  a  force  of  troops  for  Chesapeake 
Bay  on  August  13.  Washington  knew  that  the  British 
General  Cornwallis  was  entrenched  at  Yorktown,  near 
the  mouth  of  the  Chesapeake,  with  a  force  considerably 
inferior  to  his  own.  He  instantly  proceeded  to  embody 
in  action  an  idea  that  he  had  already  conceived — that 
of  leaving  the  vicinity  of  New  York  secretly,  and 
marching  with  the  utmost  possible  despatch  to  York- 
town,  and  calling  on  de  Grasse  to  assist  him  to  cap- 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND    CHEMISTRY     175 

ture  Yorktown,  and  if  posible  Cornwallis.  No  inven- 
tion ever  succeeded  better.  Its  influence  on  history  was 
to  precipitate  the  collapse  of  the  entire  British  program 
of  hostilities,  and  cause  the  establishment  of  the  United 
States. 

The  balloon  was  invented  about  1783.  Mr.  Caven- 
dish had  found  that  hydrogen  was  about  seven  times 
lighter  than  air,  and  Dr.  Black  had  forthwith  deliv- 
ered a  lecture  in  which  he  pointed  out  that  a  thin  light 
vessel  inflated  with  hydrogen  should  be  able  to  rise  and 
float  in  the  air.  He  conceived  the  idea  of  the  balloon, 
but  made  no  invention.  The  Italian  philosopher,  Ca- 
vallo,  about  1782,  inflated  soap-bubbles  with  hydrogen 
gas,  but  went  no  further.  The  subject  of  making  bal- 
loons filled  with  hydrogen  was  widely  discussed ;  but  the 
first  balloon  really  to  rise  was  the  hot-air  balloon  in- 
vented by  Joseph  and  Stephen  Montgolfier.  This  bal- 
loon made  a  successful  ascent  on  June  5,  1783,  carrying 
the  two  brothers,  flew  about  ten  minutes,  and  alighted 
safe,  after  a  trip  of  about  a  mile  and  a  half.  This  was 
followed  on  August  27  by  a  flight  of  a  balloon  filled 
with  hydrogen  gas,  the  design  of  which  was  made  by 
the  physicist  Charles,  and  the  cost  of  which  was  met 
by  a  popular  subscription.  The  flight  was  followed 
shortly  by  many  others.  The  first  employment  of  bal- 
loons in  practical  work  was  in  making  observations  of 
the  enemy  by  the  French  army  in  1794. 

An  important  invention  for  utilizing  mechanical 
power  in  place  of  hand-power  was  the  power-loom  in- 
vented in  1785  by  Edmund  Cartwright.  This  was  an 
invention  of  the  most  clean-cut  kind,  originating  in  the 
conception  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cartwright  of  the  possi- 
bility of  doing  much  more  weaving  by  mechanical 
power  than  by  hand,  then  constructing  the  machine  to 
accomplish  it,  and  then  accomplishing  it.  An  interest- 
ing fact  in  the  early  development  of  looms  for  weaving 


176  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

was  the  determined  and  angry  opposition  of  weavers 
to  each  improvement  in  succession. 

Another  invention  also  utilizing  external  power, 
made  near  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  was  the 
hydrostatic  press.  It  consisted  of  a  vertical  cylinder, 
fitted  with  a  piston  prevented  by  suitable  means  from 
rising,  except  against  great  pressures;  the  piston  resting 
on  a  liquid  in  the  bottom  of  the  cylinder,  which  was 
connected  by  a  small  pipe  with  a  small  pump,  by  which 
more  liquid  could  be  forced  in.  When  the  pump  was 
operated  the  pressure  per  square  inch  on  the  piston  of 
the  pump  was  communicated  to  each  square  inch  of  the 
large  piston  in  the  press,  and  a  force  exerted  equal  to 
that  pressure  multiplied  by  the  difference  in  area  of  the 
two  pistons.  This  is  the  model  on  which  hydraulic 
jacks  and  many  other  hydraulic  mechanisms  are  con- 
structed; and  it  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  the 
development  of  the  science  of  hydraulics  ever  since  it 
was  invented. 

Because  of  the  gradual  recognition  of  the  value  of 
sea-commerce  in  the  British  Isles,  and  the  fact  that  the 
stormy  seas  adjacent  necessitated  the  construction  of 
ships  at  once  sturdy  and  yet  capable  of  speed,  much 
study  and  experimentation  were  carried  on  during  the 
eighteenth  century,  especially  in  England.  In  these 
experiments,  the  invention  by  Archimedes  of  the  hydro- 
static principle  of  buoyancy  supplied  the  starting-point, 
and  gave  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  influence  of 
invention  on  history:  for  from  experiments  and  inves- 
tigations on  floating  bodies  carried  on  in  England, 
based  on  the  invention  of  Archimedes,  and  followed  by 
others  of  English  origin,  sprang  England's  merchant 
marine  and  England's  navy  and  England's  domination 
over  a  quarter  of  the  land  on  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

The  eighteenth  century  closed  with  the  invention  of 
two  very  important  mechanisms  that  reinforced  the 


ELECTRICITY,    STEAM   AND    CHEMISTRY     177 

power  of  the  human  hand  with  power  drawn  from  ex- 
ternal sources:  these  were  the  threshing  machine  and 
the  cotton  gin ;  the  former  invented  by  Andrew  Meikle 
in  1788,  and  the  latter  by  Eli  Whitney  in  1793.  It 
would  be  hard  to  decide  with  knowledge  as  to  which 
has  had  the  greater  influence  in  constructing  the  ma- 
chine of  civilization;  but  it  is  not  at  all  hard  to  realize 
that  the  machine  of  civilization  could  not  have  attained 
its  present  stage  without  the  assistance  of  both. 

One  of  the  last  important  inventions  of  the  century 
was  that  of  an  art  entirely  new,  as  distinguished  from 
inventions  like  the  cotton  gin,  that  merely  increased  the 
value  of  an  art  already  in  existence.  This  was  the  in- 
vention of  lithography,  or  printing  from  stone,  made 
by  Alois  Senefelder  in  1796.  The  first  thing  printed 
by  him  was  a  piece  of  music.  While  this  invention 
was  more  brilliant  than  those  of  Meikle  and  Whitney, 
it  was  hardly  so  important.  Nevertheless,  it  was  im- 
portant in  a  high  degree  and  made  a  valuable  addition 
to  civilization. 

An  invention  of  a  kind  different  from  either  Whit- 
ney's or  Senefelder's  was  made  on  October  15,  1793, 
by  Napoleon  Bonaparte.  He  was  at  that  time  a  young 
and  ill-clad  captain  of  artillery,  attending  a  Council  of 
War  in  Toulon.  An  idea  for  driving  out  the  English 
had  been  conceived  and  embodied  in  a  complete  plan 
by  a  celebrated  engineer,  and  it  had  been  approved  by 
the  Committee  on  Fortifications.  The  youthful  and 
prestigeless  captain  opposed  this  plan  with  a  vehe- 
mence and  convincingness  that  came  to  be  familiarly 
known  a  few  years  later,  and  proposed  in  place  of  it 
a  plan  that  he  had  himself  conceived  and  embodied  in 
a  concrete  form.  His  plan  consisted  in  the  main  merely 
in  mounting  some  guns  on  a  point  of  land  that  he  des- 
ignated, from  which  they  could  command  the  British 
war-ships  in  the  harbor;  and  it  was  so  much  simpler 


178  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

and  in  every  way  better,  that,  despite  his  obscurity  and 
youth,  it  was  adopted,  and  he  himself  was  charged  with 
carrying  it  into  operation.  This  he  did;  and  with  such 
constructive  skill  and  energy,  that  the  British  ships  were 
driven  from  the  harbor  and  the  entire  vicinity,  and 
without  doing  any  damage  to  the  town.  The  British 
soldiers,  then  unsupported,  immediately  withdrew. 

What  was  the  determining  difference  between  Na- 
poleon's plan  and  that  of  the  great  engineer  ?  The  idea 
conceived. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

THE   AGE   OF   STEAM,    NAPOLEON   AND 
NELSON 

TN  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth  century  began 
•*•  what  has  been  called  the  Age  of  Steam;  but  before 
it  ended,  it  was  supplanted  by  the  Age  of  Electricity. 
When  the  century  opened,  the  steam  engine  of  Watt 
existed  in  a  practical  and  useful  form,  and  the  num- 
berless experiments  of  the  physicists  in  the  preceding 
century  had  laid  bare  the  main  laws  governing  the 
force  and  the  expansion  of  steam  and  air,  and  of  gases 
and  vapors  in  general.  The  laws  of  the  expansion  of 
solids  and  liquids  were  also  understood  in  their  main 
features,  and  the  various  inventions  mentioned  in  the 
last  chapter  were  in  operation.  Seizing  on  the  facili- 
ties thus  supplied,  and  noting  the  worldly  success  that 
certain  discoverers  and  inventors  had  achieved,  the  in- 
ventors of  the  nineteenth  century  got  speedily  to  work. 
The  result  was  that  the  civilized  world  at  the  end  of 
the  nineteenth  century  was  vastly  different  from  the 
civilized  world  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

In  general  terms,  it  may  be  declared  that  during  the 
first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  principal  inven- 
tions were  in  the  utilization  of  heat,  especially  in  the 
form  of  steam  engines;  while  during  the  latter  half,  the 
principal  inventions  were  electrical : — though  some  very 
important  electrical  inventions  were  made  before  1850. 
In  this  brief  resume,  no  attempt  will  be  made  to  de- 
scribe or  even  mention  all  the  inventions  made,  or  even 
all  the  important  ones;  for  such  an  attempt  would  be 

179 


180  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

impossible  to  carry  out.  Only  a  few  super-important 
ones  will  be  mentioned. 

The  first  important  successful  application  of  the 
steam  engine  was  embodied  in  the  steamboat  Charlotte 
Dundas  that  was  produced  in  Scotland  in  1801.  Other 
steamboats  had  appeared  before,  but  they  had  not  been 
successful.  The  first  was  tried  on  the  Soane  River  in 
France  in  1781.  Later,  Fitch  and  Ramsay  made  some 
unsuccessful  attempts  in  the  United  States.  Then,  in 
1788,  Patrick  Miller,  with  the  assistance  of  an  engi- 
neer named  William  Symington,  had  constructed  a 
steam  vessel  that  attained  a  speed  of  five  knots  on  a 
lake  in  Scotland.  In  the  next  year,  Mr.  Miller  and 
Mr.  Symington  had  put  another  steamboat  on  the  water 
that  developed  a  speed  of  nearly  seven  knots.  None 
of  these  experiments  could  be  called  successful  of  itself; 
but  the  experience  gained  by  them  induced  Lord  Dundas 
to  build  the  Charlotte  Dundas  and  name  it  after  his 
daughter.  The  Charlotte  Dundas  was  a  practical  suc- 
cess from  the  start;  for,  in  March,  1802,  it  towed  two 
vessels  of  70  tons  each  a  distance  of  \9l/2  miles  in  six 
hours,  while  such  a  strong  wind  was  blowing  from 
ahead  that  no  other  vessel  on  the  canal  tried  to  move 
to  windward. 

Whether  or  not  this  constituted  an  actual  invention 
the  present  author  will  not  attempt  to  determine,  even 
in  his  own  mind.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  it  was  the 
direct  issue  of  several  inventions,  and  that  it  was  the 
first  embodiment  in  a  concrete  form  of  the  successful 
and  practical  application  of  steam  power  to  transpor- 
tation on  the  water. 

The  next  successful  application  was  made  by  Robert 
Fulton,  who  built  the  Clermont  in  1807.  This  vessel 
went  into  regular  service  in  1808,  plying  between  New 
York  and  Albany,  on  the  Hudson  River. 

The  first  steamboat  to  venture  on  the  ocean  was  the 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      181 

Phcenix,  that  made  the  trip  from  New  York  to  Dela- 
ware Bay  by  sea  in  1808.  It  was  built  by  Mr.  R.  L. 
Stevens,  an  engineer  of  Hoboken.  If  it  accomplished 
nothing  else,  it  supplied  a  precedent  and  gave  encour- 
agement to  inventors  everywhere.  It  made  "le  pre- 
mier pas  qui  coute." 

Meanwhile,  in  June,  1802,  Mr.  Thomas  Wedge- 
wood  had  published  uAn  Account  of  a  Method  of 
Copying  Paintings  upon  Glass,  and  of  making  Profiles 
by  the  Agency  of  Light  upon  Nitrate  of  Silver,"  with 
observations  by  Sir  Humphry  Davy.  In  the  course 
of  his  paper,  he  declared  that  he  had  secured  profiles 
of  paintings  made  on  glass  by  throwing  the  shadows  of 
those  paintings  on  paper  covered  with  a  solution  of  the 
nitrate;  the  paper  showing  the  objects  delineated  in 
tones  that  were  dark  or  light  inversely  as  they  were  in 
the  painting.  He  also  took  profiles  of  natural  objects 
by  throwing  their  shadows  on  the  prepared  paper :  the 
parts  of  the  paper  covered  by  the  shadows  being  white, 
while  the  parts  outside  the  shadows  became  dark. 

This  seems  to  have  been  an  actual  invention,  in  that 
it  followed  a  discovery  made  by  Wedgewood  that  sun- 
light acted  on  nitrate  of  silver,  and  was  the  embodi- 
ment of  an  idea,  then  conceived  by  him,  to  utilize  his 
discovery  in  making  profile  pictures.  His  invention 
was  far  from  perfect,  however;  the  greatest  imperfec- 
tion being  the  fact  that  the  pictures  could  not  be  fixed; 
because,  unless  the  paper  was  ever  afterward  kept  away 
from  the  light,  its  whole  surface  would  become  dark, 
and  the  picture  therefore  cease  to  exist.  In  conse- 
quence, it  aroused  almost  no  interest  whatever  at  the 
time.  In  1814,  M.  Niepce  invented  a  process  that  he 
called  "heliography,"  by  which  he  made  pictures  on 
silvered  copper  covered  with  a  thin  solution  of  asphal- 
tum.  In  1829,  Daguerre  and  Niepce  entered  into  a 
copartnership  for  developing  heliography,  and  insti- 


182  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

tuted  experiments  that  led  Daguerre  to  inventing  the 
daguerreotype,  made  by  a  process  quite  new  in  detail, 
but  based  on  the  earlier  inventions  of  both  Wedgwood 
and  Niepce.  The  daguerreotype  was  followed  in  1850 
by  the  present  "photograph." 

The  invention  of  electroplating  was  made  by  Brug- 
natelli  in  Italy  in  1803.  The  fact  that  electric  cur- 
rents could  decompose  certain  liquids  had  been  known 
since  1800,  and  also  the  further  fact  that  oxygen  and 
hydrogen,  acids  and  alkalies,  appeared  at  the  positive 
and  negative  poles  respectively  of  the  wires  in  contact 
with  the  liquid.  But  Brugnatelli  seems  to  have  been 
the  first  to  conceive  the  idea  of  utilizing  these  facts  in 
a  device  whereby  he  could  deposit  metals  at  will  at  the 
negative  end  of  a  solution.  In  the  embodiment  of  his 
conception,  pieces  (say  of  silver)  were  hung  on  rods 
in  connection  with  the  positive  pole  of  the  battery  sup- 
plying the  electric  current,  while  the  articles  to  be  plated 
with  silver  were  hung  on  rods  connected  with  the  nega- 
tive pole.  The  value  of  this  invention  and  its  extensive 
use  in  the  electrodeposition  of  metals  at  the  present 
day  are  well  known. 

In  the  following  year,  Sir  Humphry  Davy,  working 
along  the  general  line  of  electrical  decomposition  of 
liquids,  made  a  number  of  super-brilliant  investigations. 
Possibly  the  most  important  result  was  his  discovery 
of  a  new  metal,  to  which  he  gave  the  name  Potassium, 
formed  at  the  negative  pole  by  the  electrical  decomposi- 
tion of  moistened  caustic  potash.  He  followed  this  by 
decomposing  caustic  soda  and  discovering  another  new 
metal,  that  he  named  Sodium. 

During  the  course  of  his  experiments,  Davy  noted 
that  when  the  two  terminal  wires  from  a  large  Voltaic 
battery  were  touched  together  and  then  drawn  apart, 
not  only  did  a  spark  pass,  but  a  continuous  discharge  of 
great  brilliancy,  that  did  not  cease  until  the  wires  were 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM    AND    NAPOLEON      183 

separated  by  a  considerable  distance.  The  extent  of 
this  distance  was  found  later  to  be  dependent  on  the 
number  of  cells  in  the  battery.  He  noted  also  that  the 
discharge  did  not  follow  a  straight  line,  but  was  bent 
into  an  arc;  and  for  this  reason  he  gave  it  the  name, 
"Voltaic  arc."  This  light  is  still  known  by  the  name 
"arc  light."  Its  importance  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  realized  until  after  the  dynamo-machine  had  been 
invented,  and  means  thereby  supplied  for  providing  a 
greater  amount  of  electric  current,  and  at  less  expense 
than  Voltaic  cells  were  capable  of  delivering. 

Davy's  last  great  invention  was  his  miner's  safety 
lamp,  made  in  1816.  There  had  been  frequent  explo- 
sions in  the  collieries,  attended  with  great  loss  of  life, 
and  Davy  was  requested  to  try  to  ascertain  how  they 
could  be  prevented.  After  visiting  the  mines,  he  had 
samples  of  the  gas  that  was  found  in  them  sent  to  him 
for  investigation.  He  went  about  the  work  with  scien- 
tific thoroughness  and  system,  and  ascertained  that  the 
gas  would  not  explode  if  it  were  mixed  with  less  than 
six  times  or  more  than  fourteen  times  its  volume  of  air; 
that  air  rendered  impure  by  the  combustion  of  a  candle 
would  not  explode  the  gas;  that,  if  a  candle  were  burnt 
in  a  closed  vessel,  with  small  openings  near  the  flame, 
no  explosion  would  take  place,  even  if  the  vessel  were 
introduced  into  an  explosive  mixture;  and  that  the  gas 
from  the  mines  would  not  explode  inside  a  tube  less 
than  y%  inch  in  diameter.  These  data  being  secured, 
Davy  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  lamp  in  which  a 
small  oil  light  should  be  fixed  and  surrounded  with  a 
cylinder  of  wire  gauze.  He  then  embodied  his  concep- 
tion in  a  concrete  form,  and  the  "Miners'  Safety  Lamp" 
resulted. 

This  was  an  invention  of  the  first  order;  original, 
concrete  and  highly  useful.  After  meeting  the  custo- 
mary chorus  of  prejudice  and  opposition,  it  justified 


184  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

its  existence  by  a  quickly  established  record  of  effective- 
ness, and  took  its  place  among  the  useful  adjuncts  of  the 
machine  of  civilization. 

Meanwhile,  several  other  adjuncts  had  appeared. 
Among  these  was  the  steel  pen,  a  process  of  making 
malleable  iron  castings,  the  planing  machine,  a  fire- 
proof safe,  the  knitting  machine  and  the  band  wood- 
saw. 

In  1726  Dr.  Hales  had  announced  that  a  gas  capa- 
ble of  burning,  and  giving  light  while  burning,  could 
be  distilled  from  coal.  This  announcement  created 
great  interest,  and  led  to  a  long  series  of  scientific  in- 
vestigations as  to  the  possibility  of  utilizing  it  for 
house  and  street  illumination,  especially  by  a  Mr.  Mur- 
dock  in  the  latter  decade  of  the  century.  In  1802  Mr. 
Murdock  made  a  public  display  of  the  result  of  his 
labors,  by  illuminating  a  factory  with  gas.  In  the  year 
1803-1804  the  Lyceum  Theatre  in  London  was  so 
lighted,  and  a  year  later  some  extensive  cotton  mills 
in  Manchester.  Public  interest  was  so  roused  that 
investigations  on  a  larger  scale  ensued,  which  resulted 
in  lighting  Westminster  Bridge  with  gas  in  1813,  and 
the  town  of  Westminster  the  following  year.  In  1816 
street  lighting  by  gas  was  common  in  London.  The 
lighting  of  houses  by  gas  followed  later,  but  very 
slowly. 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  see  that  there  was  much  in- 
vention of  an  original  or  brilliant  kind  involved  in  the 
gradual  development  of  the  art  of  illuminating  by  gas; 
but  it  cannot  reasonably  be  denied  that  a  considerable 
amount  of  invention  must  have  been  done  in  the  aggre- 
gate, for  the  reason  that  a  wholly  novel  art  was  created. 
If  it  was  not  invented,  how  was  it  brought  into  being? 
The  best  answer  probably  is  that  the  art  was  not  the 
result  of  one  brilliant  invention  followed  by  others  that 
improved  upon  it,  but  was  rather  the  aggregate  work 


THE   AGE   OF   STEAM   AND   NAPOLEON      185 

of  a  number  of  minor  inventions,  each  one  of  which 
carried  the  art  forward,  but  by  only  one  short  step. 

Other  minor  inventions  produced  the  locomotive  and 
the  railroad.  The  first  steam  engines  were  stationary; 
but  portable  engines,  now  called  locomotives,  grad- 
ually came  into  being.  They  were  engines  mounted  on 
platforms  resting  on  wheels  that,  in  turn,  rested  on  the 
ground;  the  revolutions  of  the  engines  turning  the 
wheels,  and  causing  the  advancement  of  the  whole.  In 
1807  a  wagon-way  was  laid  down  on  which  cars  were 
run  to  and  from  a  colliery,  and  this  wagon-way  passed 
close  in  front  of  a  house  in  which  lived  a  poor  family 
named  Stephenson,  a  member  of  which  was  a  boy 
whose  Christian  name  was  George.  In  the  following 
year,  the  wooden  parts  were  taken  up  and  replaced  by 
a  single  line  of  iron  rails  with  sidings.  In  1811  a  port- 
able engine  was  constructed  for  running  on  these  rails, 
and  this  was  followed  by  another  in  the  following  year.. 
George  Stephenson  made  a  locomotive  for  running  on 
rails  in  1814,  and  followed  it  by  another  in  1816,  both 
for  hauling  coal. 

It  was  now  so  obvious  that  locomotives  could  haul 
other  things  than  coal,  that  a  railroad  was  laid  down 
between  Manchester  and  Liverpool,  and  a  prize  of 
£500  was  offered  for  the  best  engine.  On  October  6, 
1829,  the  competition  was  held,  though  only  three  en- 
gines appeared.  The  prize  was  won  by  Stephenson's 
locomotive,  the  Rocket,  which  attained  a  speed  of  29 
miles  per  hour. 

With  the  locomotive,  as  with  illuminating  gas,  it  is 
impossible  to  see  any  one  original  or  brilliant  invention. 
We  do  see,  however,  the  result  of  the  superposition  on 
one  brilliant  invention  (that  of  Hero's  steam  engine) 
of  a  number  of  minor  inventions,  and  much  construc- 
tive ingenuity  and  initiative. 

An  invention  of  a  higher  order  had  signalized  the 


186  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  the  form  of  a 
printing  press  in  which  the  speed  of  printing  was 
greatly  increased  by  the  use  of  revolving  cylinders;  one 
holding  the  type  on  its  outer  surface,  and  the  other 
covered  with  leather,  the  paper  passing  between,  and 
receiving  the  printed  impression  by  the  pressure  ex- 
erted between  the  two  cylinders.  In  order  that  the 
type  should  fit  on  the  curved  surface  of  the  cylinder, 
they  were  made  narrower  toward  the  bottom.  The 
machine  was  invented  by  an  Englishman  named  Nichol- 
son. It  was  never  put  into  practical  use ;  but  a  machine 
embodying  the  revolving  cylinder  for  receiving  the 
force  of  the  impression  communicated  to  the  paper, 
was  invented  and  put  into  successful  use  later  by  a  Ger- 
man named  Konig.  The  type,  however,  was  not  put 
on  a  cylinder  in  this  machine,  but  on  a  flat  plate  that 
passed  back  and  forth  under  the  revolving  impression 
cylinder.  Two  of  Konig's  presses  were  bought  for  the 
London  Times;  and  on  November  28,  1814,  one  made 
1,100  impressions  per  hour,  a  marvelous  advance  over 
speeds  previously  attained.  From  the  standpoint  of 
pure  invention,  it  was  not  so  admirable  as  Nicholson's; 
but  being  a  later  product,  and  being  based  on  Nichol- 
son's principle,  it  was  naturally  an  improvement  in  con- 
struction and  mode  of  operation. 

In  1814  Sir  David  Brewster,  while  experimenting  on 
the  polarization  of  light,  made  an  invention  of  the  most 
original  and  concrete  type,  which  required  a  high  grade 
of  scientific  knowledge  for  its  conception  and  develop- 
ment, but  which  was  not  intended  for  any  utilitarian 
purpose,  and  yet  was  of  too  serious  a  character  to  be 
called  a  scientific  toy.  This  was  his  famous  kaleido- 
scope ;  an  instrument  described  accurately  by  its  name, 
for  it  enabled  one  to  see  beautiful  things.  It  was  very 
simple  in  construction  and  principle,  and  seems  to  have 
fallen  short  of  greatness  in  only  one  element,  that  of 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM    AND    NAPOLEON      187 

usefulness.  By  a  careful  adjustment  of  two  prisms  at 
a  definite  angle  to  each  other,  Sir  David  showed  that 
geometrical  images  of  the  utmost  beauty  and  variety 
could  be  made  of  objects  placed  between  the  mirrors, 
especially  if  those  objects  were  small  objects,  and  if 
they  were  of  different  colors,  like  bits  of  colored  glass. 
Knowledge  of  this  escaping,  thousands  of  kaleido- 
scopes were  soon  put  on  the  market,  and  sold  in  all  the 
principal  cities,  before  Sir  David  had  had  time  to  get  a 
patent.  Though  the  instruments  were  unscientifically 
made,  they  gave  beautiful  pictures  nevertheless;  but 
the  result  was  that  the  kaleidoscope  was  not  appre- 
ciated at  its  full  value.  The  inventor  improved  the  in- 
strument greatly,  and  developed  it  into  one  of  the  most 
beauty-producing  appliances  known,  and  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  and  unique.  The  most  remarkable 
fact  connected  with  it  is  that  no  real  usefulness  for  it 
has  ever  yet  been  found.  The  present  author  ventures 
to  predict  that  a  clear  field  of  usefulness  will  some  day 
be  found  by  some  fortunate  inventor. 

Meanwhile,  the  ill-clad  captain  of  artillery  who  had 
invented  the  plan  by  which  the  British  were  pushed  out 
of  Toulon  with  so  much  neatness  and  despatch,  had 
nearly  turned  the  civilized  world  upside  down.  No 
man  save  Alexander  ever  accomplished  so  much  of 
that  kind  of  work  in  so  short  a  time.  His  work  con- 
sisted of  a  number  of  acts  performed  by  him,  each  of 
which  was  like  his  act  at  Toulon,  in  that  it  began  with 
the  conception  of  a  brilliant  idea,  proceeded  with  the 
embodiment  of  the  idea  in  a  concrete  plan,  and  ended 
with  the  carrying  into  operation  of  that  plan.  Na- 
poleon was  great  in  each  of  these  lines  of  work.  He 
had  a  brilliant  and  yet  correct  imagination,  that  en- 
abled him  to  conceive  ideas  of  extraordinary  brilliancy, 
and  also  to  select  from  them  the  ideas  that  were  the 
most  susceptible  of  being  made  into  concrete  plans  of 


188  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

the  kind  that  could  be  carried  out  successfully.  He 
possessed  great  constructiveness,  that  enabled  him  to 
construct  mentally  a  plan  in  which  all  the  means  avail- 
able for  his  use  were  seized  upon  and  put  to  their  spe- 
cial tasks.  He  possessed  finally  great  ardor,  industry 
and  courage,  that  enabled  him  to  start  his  plan  to  going 
very  quickly,  and  keep  it  going  very  rapidly,  until  it 
had  performed  its  task.  It  would  be  idle  to  discuss  at 
which  of  these  three  stages  of  the  work  he  was  the 
greatest,  or  to  try  to  decide  which  stage  of  the  three 
was  the  most  important;  because  the  three  were  links 
in  a  continual  chain,  and  the  chain  depended  on  each 
equally  for  its  strength :  —  as  any  chain  does  on  its 
links. 

It  may  be  interesting,  however,  to  realize  that  mere 
imagination  is  possibly  the  most  elementary  activity  of 
the  mind;  mere  imagination  is  evidenced  by  savages, 
for  instance,  and  by  children,  more  than  by  highly  edu- 
cated men.  Constructiveness,  on  the  other  hand,  is 
little  to  be  found  in  savages  or  children,  and  is  a  prod- 
uct of  education,  and  a  result  of  the  training  of  the 
reasoning  faculties.  Courage  and  impulsive  energy 
again  are  elemental  faculties,  and  are  observable  more 
in  savages  than  in  the  civilized.  It  seems  to  be  the 
effect  of  civilization,  therefore,  to  develop  the  reason- 
ing faculties,  at  the  expense  of  both  imagination  and 
courage.  In  fact,  it  is  clearly  the  effect  of  civilization 
to  develop  a  cold  and  calculating  materialism.  Men 
are  rare  therefore,  and  have  been  rare  in  every  age, 
who  combine  the  three  qualities  of  imagination,  con- 
structiveness and  courage.  Napoleon  combined  all 
three  in  harmonious  proportions;  and  he  possessed  each 
one  in  its  most  perfect  form. 

His  performance  at  Toulon  was  so  spectacular  that 
it  attracted  attention  at  once,  and  caused  his  promotion 
to  the  command  of  the  artillery  in  Italy.  Here  he 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      189 

was  able  to  suggest  projects  that  received  approval  and 
brought  successes.  One  plan  conceived  and  developed 
by  him,  however,  was  disapproved.  It  consisted  essen- 
tially of  dividing  the  Piedmontese  and  Austrians,  crush- 
ing the  Piedmontese,  and  then  driving  the  Austrians 
out  of  Italy  into  Austria  and  following  them  thither. 
Later,  this  plan  was  approved,  and  he  himself  was  put 
in  command  in  Italy.  It  was  this  plan,  executed  by  the 
Bonaparte  of  those  days,  that  began  the  career  of  the 
Napoleon  of  history.  So  original  and  brilliant  had  been 
the  conception,  so  mathematically  correct  and  prac- 
tically feasible  had  been  the  plan  which  Bonaparte  de- 
veloped from  it,  and  so  furiously  energetic  were  his 
operations  in  carrying  out  the  plan,  that  the  sluggish 
Piedmontese  were  defeated  before  they  quite  realized 
that  war  had  been  begun.  A  like  catastrophe  hap- 
pened to  the  equally  mentally  and  physically  sluggish 
Austrians;  then  another  catastrophe,  and  then  another, 
and  then  still  others ;  and  in  such  rapid  and  bewildering 
succession,  that  in  a  year  and  a  month  after  his  arrival 
in  Italy  he  had  driven  the  Austrians  out  completely, 
formed  the  Cisalpine  and  Ligurian  republics  in  the 
north  of  Italy,  and  signed  the  armistice  of  Leoben  with 
the  Austrians,  within  fifty  miles  of  Vienna. 

Napoleon's  next  invention  was  a  project  for  ruining 
England  by  attacking  her  East  Indian  possessions  by 
a  campaign  beginning  with  an  invasion  of  Egypt. 
Everything  proceeded  in  substantial  accordance  with 
the  plan  developed,  until  August  1,  1798.  In  the 
evening  of  that  day  the  whole  project  was  destroyed 
by  Horatio  Nelson. 

It  was  destroyed  in  a  battle  near  the  mouth  of  the 
river  Nile,  that  was  decided  in  fifteen  minutes,  though 
it  was  not  wholly  concluded  until  it  had  been  raging 
for  nearly  four  hours.  In  fifteen  minutes,  the  French 
fleet  on  which  depended  Bonaparte's  communications 


190  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

with  Europe,  had  been  so  severely  damaged  that  the 
failure  of  Bonaparte's  project  was  decided. 

Nelson  was  a  man  like  Bonaparte  in  certain  quali- 
ties; in  the  qualities  that  are  essential  to  great  leader- 
ship, imagination,  constructiveness  and  executiveness. 
The  first  clear  evidence  of  these  qualities  he  had  dis- 
played startlingly  at  the  battle  of  Cape  St.  Vincent  on 
February  14,  1797; — when,  swiftly  realizing  that  two 
separated  parts  of  the  hostile  Spanish  fleet  were  about 
to  join,  he  suddenly  conceived  the  idea  of  preventing 
the  junction  by  committing  an  act  that  —  unless  it 
brought  success — would  probably  cost  him  his  commis- 
sion and  perhaps  his  life.  Now,  the  mere  conception 
of  an  idea  so  revolting  to  professional  ethics  would  not 
occur  to  an  unimaginative  man:  and  still  less  would  it 
be  retained.  But  it  did  occur  to  Nelson;  and  Nelson 
retained  it  and  looked  it  squarely  in  the  face.  To  em- 
body his  idea  in  a  practicable  plan  was  a  simple  matter 
to  his  active  and  trained  intelligence,  while  to  execute 
the  plan  was  an  act  so  natural  as  to  be  almost  auto- 
matic. Much  to  the  amazement  of  the  Commander  of 
the  fleet  and  all  the  officers  and  men  in  both  the  fleets, 
the  little  division  commanded  by  Commodore  Nelson 
was  seen  actually  to  leave  the  line  of  battle !  Nelson 
had  taken  his  life,  his  fortune  and  his  sacred  honor  in 
his  hand,  and  staked  all  on  an  endeavor  to  get  between 
the  two  separated  parts  of  the  Spanish  fleet.  The 
British  Commander  quickly  realized  what  his  daring 
subordinate  had  in  mind,  and  speedily  came  to  his  re- 
lief. A  brilliant,  though  not  materially  decisive,  vic- 
tory was  won.  The  already  distinguished  Commander- 
in-Chief  was  then  made  Earl  St.  Vincent,  and  the 
hitherto  obscure  Horatio  Nelson  brought  into  the  fore- 
front of  naval  heroes,  with  the  rank  of  rear-admiral, 
a  gold  medal  and  a  knighthood. 

Now,  Nelson  had  not  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the 


THE   AGE   OF   STEAM   AND   NAPOLEON      191 

Nile  because  of  any  accident,  or  any  chain  of  fortuitous 
circumstances ;  he  did  not  fight  the  epochal  battle  there 
because  of  any  accidental  occurrences  or  conditions,  and 
he  did  not  gain  the  victory  because  of  any  similar 
causes.  Nelson  appeared  at  the  mouth  of  the  Nile  in 
accordance  with  a  plan  that  he  had  conceived  as  soon  as 
he  heard  of  Bonaparte's  departure  from  Toulon  on  a 
destination  carefully  kept  secret,  but  which  Nelson 
divined  as  Egypt.  He  so  divined  it,  by  imagining  him- 
self in  Bonaparte's  place,  and  imagining  for  what  pur- 
pose he,  Nelson,  would  have  left  Toulon  under  the  con- 
ditions prevailing  then  in  France.  He  engaged  the 
French  fleet  when  he  did,  and  he  fought  the  French 
fleet  in  the  way  he  did,  in  accordance  with  a  plan  that 
he  had  conceived  long  before.  No  men  were  ever 
more  cautious,  more  solicitous  about  the  future,  more 
painstaking,  more  prudent,  more  insistent  against  tak- 
ing undue  risks,  than  those  reputedly  reckless  devil- 
may-cares,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  and  Horatio  Nelson. 
Napoleon  realized  at  once  that  his  brilliant  scheme 
had  been  shattered;  but  he  could  not  now  even  take  his 
army  home,  because  the  British  fleet  was  in  the  way. 
Finally,  he  succeeded  in  making  the  trip  himself,  with 
only  a  few  of  his  staff.  Events  ran  rapidly  then;  and 
on  the  sixth  of  May,  1800,  we  see  Napoleon  leaving 
Paris  to  undertake  a  campaign  in  northern  Italy,  in 
accordance  with  a  plan  embodied  to  carry  out  an  idea 
conceived  in  his  fertile  mind,  of  taking  his  army 
through  the  great  St.  Bernard  pass,  dragging  his  can- 
non with  him  through  the  snow.  This  plan  (like  most 
of  his  plans)  was  so  brilliantly  conceived,  so  skillfully 
planned,  and  so  energetically  executed,  that  when  Na- 
poleon suddenly  appeared  with  his  army  in  the  North 
of  Italy,  the  Austrian  general  was  bewildered  with 
amazement.  The  natural  result  developed  quickly,  and 
the  Austrians  retired  beyond  the  Mincio  River. 


192  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

By  this  time  affairs  in  Europe  were  vastly  compli- 
cated, because  of  the  fact  that  the  maritime  enemies  of 
France  (which  meant  virtually  all  the  other  maritime 
countries  of  Europe)  became  exasperated  at  one  of 
their  number,  Great  Britain,  in  consequence  of  what 
they  considered  her  unreasonable  insistence  on  certain 
doctrines  concerning  maritime  affairs.  A  League  of 
Armed  Neutrality  against  her  was  finally  formed,  that 
soon  assumed  menacing  proportions.  This  league  was 
completely  broken  by  the  same  Horatio  Nelson  in  a 
naval  battle  off  Copenhagen  on  April  2,  1801.  This 
battle  was  the  direct  result  of  a  plan  conceived  by  Nel- 
son, that  was  so  original  and  so  daring  that  for  a  long 
time  he  could  not  secure  the  consent  of  his  Commander- 
in-Chief  to  its  execution.  The  battle  resulted  in  a  vic- 
tory that  was  brilliant  in  the  highest  degree ;  but  it  was 
brilliant  only  because  the  original  idea  was  brilliant, 
and  because  it  was  developed  into  a  plan  that  was  con- 
structively correct  and  skillfully  carried  out. 

Meanwhile,  a  brief  campaign  had  been  going  on  be- 
tween the  French  and  the  Austrians  in  Austria.  It  was 
carried  on  with  great  brilliancy  of  conception  and  skill 
of  execution  by  Moreau,  and  ended  with  the  battle  of 
Hohenlinden  and  the  disastrous  defeat  of  the  Austrians. 
The  treaty  of  Luneville  followed  in  February,  1801, 
and  left  Great  Britain  as  France's  only  antagonist. 

The  victory  of  Copenhagen  having  broken  the 
strength  of  the  Confederacy  of  Neutrals,  and  Napoleon 
seeing  the  folly  of  attempting  further  to  ruin  British 
commerce  then,  the  Treaty  of  Amiens  between  Great 
Britain  and  France  followed  in  March,  1802. 

As  part  of  this  treaty,  Great  Britain  agreed  to  give 
up  Malta.  For  various  reasons  that  do  not  concern 
this  discussion,  Great  Britain  did  not  do  so,  and  war 
followed  in  May,  1803. 

Before  that  time,  Napoleon  had  realized  that  his 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      193 

principal  enemy  was  England.  He  now  conceived  the 
project  of  sending  an  invading  army  across  the  English 
Channel,  knowing  that  if  he  could  accomplish  that,  he 
could  march  to  London,  and  dictate  his  own  terms  of 
peace.  But  how  could  he  get  across  the  channel,  in  the 
face  of  the  British  fleet?  From  the  numberless  pic- 
tures conjured  up  in  his  brilliant  imagination,  Napoleon 
selected  the  one  which  showed  a  French  fleet  threaten- 
ing British  possessions  in  the  West  Indies,  a  British 
fleet  rushing  to  the  West  Indies  to  save  them,  the 
French  fleet  returning  and  joining  with  another  French 
fleet  waiting  for  it,  then  the  combined  fleets  securing 
the  mastery  of  the  English  Channel  from  the  depleted 
British  fleet  remaining,  then  a  French  flotilla  of  trans- 
ports with  an  invading  army  forthwith  starting  across 
the  channel,  then  a  landing  against  an  opposition  easily 
overcome,  then  a  march  to  London,  then  a  capture  of 
London:  and  finally,  he,  Napoleon,  riding  in  triumph 
through  London  streets  and  sleeping  in  the  palace  at 
London — as  he  had  slept  in  other  palaces  on  the 
Continent. 

It  was  a  beautiful  vision; — a  beautiful  series  of  mov- 
ing pictures  presented  to  his  imagination.  To  embody 
all  these  pictures  in  realities  became  the  pre-occupation 
of  his  waking  and  his  sleeping  hours.  By  dint  of  hercu- 
lean exertions,  he  finally  collected  near  Boulogne  about 
200,000  troops  and  1,500  transports.  At  the  proper 
time,  Villeneuve,  with  a  powerful  fleet,  was  sent  to  the 
West  Indies  to  threaten  the  British  possessions  there. 

But  the  same  man  who  had  spoiled  his  India  project 
by  the  battle  of  the  Nile,  and  who  had  spoiled  his 
project  of  ruining  British  commerce  by  the  battle  of 
Copenhagen,  spoiled  his  present  project :  the  same  man, 
Horatio  Nelson.  Nelson  had  some  imagination  him- 
self; and  he  imagined  (correctly  as  usual)  that  Vil- 
leneuve had  sailed  for  the  West  Indies — and  away  he 


194  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

went  in  pursuit.  Arriving  there,  and  finding  that  Vil- 
leneuve  had  been  in  the  West  Indies  but  had  left,  Nel- 
son left  also.  He  imagined  that  Villeneuve  had  sailed 
for  Europe;  and  so  Nelson  sailed  for  Europe  also, 
sending  a  fast  frigate  to  inform  the  Admiralty  of  all 
that  he  had  learned,  and  of  all  that  he  inferred.  The 
frigate  made  such  speed,  and  the  First  Lord  of  the 
Admiralty,  Admiral  Lord  Barham,  acted  with  such 
sailor-like  energy  and  skill,  that  a  large  British  fleet 
intercepted  Villeneuve  on  his  return,  brought  him  to 
action  near  the  coast  of  Spain,  and  handled  him  so 
roughly  that  he  went  for  repairs  to  Cadiz.  He  arrived 
there  on  August  20. 

The  news  of  this,  reaching  Napoleon,  wiped  all  the 
beautiful  pictures  out  of  his  mind.  But  he  had  other 
pictures  in  the  background.  These  he  put  promptly 
into  the  foreground,  and  started  off  with  incredible 
swiftness  toward  Austria.  On  October  19,  he  brought 
the  Austrians  to  battle  near  Ulm,  and  achieved  one  of 
the  most  decisive  victories  of  his  career.  The  victory 
was  mainly  due  to  the  clearness  and  correctness  of 
Napoleon's  conceived  idea,  and  the  amazing  speed  and 
certainty  of  his  movements  in  carrying  it  into  execu- 
tion. The  Austrian  General  Mack  was  so  wholly 
taken  by  surprise  that  he  found  his  army  was  com- 
pletely surrounded  before  he  had  had  time  to  take 
any  preventive  measures. 

Napoleon  had  correctly  judged  the  import  of  Vil- 
leneuve's  interception  by  the  British  fleet,  and  realized 
that  it  would  be  mere  folly  afterward  to  attempt  to 
cross  the  channel  then.  Still,  the  situation  was  not 
wholly  bad  for  him,  and  the  victory  at  Ulm  made  it 
beautiful.  For,  though  England  was  still  greater  on 
the  sea  than  France,  France  was  also  great,  and  was 
still  a  powerful  weapon  which  he  could  wield  against 
England,  with  all  the  power  of  genius.  But,  two  days 


THE   AGE   OF   STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      195 

after  the  victory  of  Ulm,  came  the  disaster  near  Cape 
Trafalgar,  when  Nelson  defeated  the  combined  French 
and  Spanish  fleets,  and  thereby  secured  for  England  a 
superiority  at  sea,  vastly  more  pronounced  than  it  had 
been  before.  This  victory,  by  making  Napoleon  help- 
less at  sea  against  Great  Britain,  ruined  all  Napoleon's 
chances  of  dominion,  except  upon  the  Continent. 

Napoleon  made  two  brilliant  campaigns  after  this, 
that  brought  him  to  the  summit  of  his  career.  Had  he 
been  content  to  stop  there,  had  he  not  tried  to  climb 
still  higher,  his  descendants  might  now  sit  on  the  throne 
of  France.  But  the  intoxicating  fumes  of  success  seem 
to  have  clouded  that  brilliant  mind,  and  to  have  pre- 
vented those  clear  and  correct  pictures  from  forming 
there  that  had  formed  before.  The  result  was  that  he 
embarked  on  a  new  project  for  ruining  England  that 
began  with  an  invasion  of  Portugal  and  Spain,  which 
brought  on  a  war  with  Austria.  It  is  true  that,  by  a 
brilliant  campaign,  Napoleon  worsted  Austria  and 
made  an  advantageous  treaty  with  her,  and  then  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  the  emperor:  but  the  continuance 
of  the  policy  that  underlay  the  war  with  Austria, 
brought  on  later  a  war  with  Russia  that  sent  Napoleon 
to  Elba,  an  exile. 

We  see  the  key  to  Napoleon's  successes  in  the  quality 
of  his  mind  at  the  time  of  those  successes,  and  we  see 
the  key  to  his  failures  in  a  lowering  of  the  quality  of 
that  mind.  Military  writers  tell  us  that  his  mind  was 
not  of  the  same  quality  when  he  planned  his  Russian 
campaign  as  it  had  been  when  he  planned  his  early 
campaigns.  Now  the  reasoning  faculties  do  not  grow 
dull  when  one  approaches  middle  age ;  but  the  imagina- 
tive faculties  do — (in  most  people).  It  is  an  old 
saying  that  "one  cannot  teach  an  old  dog  new  tricks." 
Clearly,  this  cannot  be  because  of  any  failing  of 
memory,  though  memory  fails  with  age;  because  the 


196  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

memory  is  not  involved,  save  slightly.  It  must  be 
therefore  because  of  failing  impressionability  and  re- 
ceptivity. We  all  speak  of  the  "receptive  years," 
meaning  the  years  of  childhood  and  then  of  youth;  and 
it  is  a  common  saying  that  young  people  are  more  re- 
ceptive than  old  people.  Of  what  are  they  receptive  ? 
Clearly,  of  mental  impressions.  Parents  and  teachers 
are  warned  not  to  forget  that  the  minds  of  young  peo- 
ple are  very  impressionable,  and  to  be  careful  that  their 
minds  receive  good  impressions  only,  so  far  as  they  can 
compass  it.  Napoleon,  when  he  made  his  Russian  cam- 
paign, was  only  43  years  old  in  years;  but  he  had  lived 
a  life  that  was  far  from  normal  or  hygienic  physically, 
and  extremely  abnormal  and  unhygienic  mentally. 

The  intention  of  the  last  sentence  is  to  point  out  that 
mental  health  cannot  be  long  preserved  amid  surround- 
ings mentally  unhealthful,  any  more  than  physical 
health  can  be  long  preserved  amid  surroundings  phys- 
ically unhealthful;  and  that  the  highest  qualities  of  our 
nature  are  the  most  difficult  to  maintain  and  therefore 
are  the  first  to  fail,  under  unhealthful  surroundings. 
The  spiritual  faculties  fail  first,  then  the  moral,  then 
the  mental  and  lastly  the  physical.  Now  the  imagina- 
tion, while  a  mental  quality,  rather  than  a  moral  one, 
partakes  in  a  measure  of  the  spiritual,  and  is  one  of  the 
highest  of  the  mental  attributes.  For  this  reason  im- 
agination is  one  of  the  first  to  be  impaired. 

The  especial  picture  of  the  imagination  that  becomes 
faulty  under  certain  conditions,  is  the  picture  of  one's 
self.  Under  conditions  such  as  Napoleon  had  lived 
under  for  several  years,  the  picture  of  himself  in  his 
mind  had  become  unduly  magnified  in  relation  to  the 
pictures  of  other  men.  Now  is  there  any  one  thing 
more  dangerous  to  a  man  than  to  carry  in  his  mind  an 
incorrect  picture  of  himself? 

In  Napoleon's  case,  it  led  him  to  the  unforgivable 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      197 

military  crime;  that  of  underestimating  the  enemy. 
His  imagination,  by  presenting  a  magnified  image  of 
himself,  presented  relatively  dwarfed  images  of  his 
antagonists.  The  very  faculty  (imagination)  which 
started  Napoleon  on  his  great  successes,  started  him 
now  on  his  great  reverses.  The  actual  beginning  of 
these  was  in  his  carelessly  planned  campaign  in  Rus- 
sia. His  invention  seems  to  have  failed  him  both  in 
planning  the  campaign  and  in  meeting  situations  after- 
wards; because  his  imagination  failed  to  picture  each 
situation  to  him  exactly  as  it  was. 

But  the  Russian  campaign  did  not  wholly  ruin  him. 
Even  after  that,  even  after  Elba,  situations  were  some- 
times presented  to  him,  such  that  (although  Trafalgar 
had  prevented  him  from  achieving  European  domina- 
tion), yet,  if  he  had  been  able  to  see  them  as  clearly 
as  he  had  seen  situations  in  his  unspoiled  days,  he  might 
at  least  have  saved  himself  from  ruin.  But  his  imag- 
ination had  become  impaired  and  therefore  his  powers 
of  invention  also. 

Napoleon  as  general,  and  Nelson  as  admiral  were 
what  we  may  term  "opportunistic  inventors,"  who 
made  inventions  for  meeting  transient  situations  with 
success,  as  distinguished  from  inventors  like  Newton 
and  Watt,  who  made  permanent  contributions  to  the 
welfare  of  mankind.  Napoleon  as  statesman,  how- 
ever, made  contributions  of  a  permanent  character. 

A  supremely  valuable  contribution  of  this  kind 
was  the  stethoscope,  which  was  invented  about  1819 
by  Dr.  Laennec  in  Paris,  and  by  means  of  which  the 
science  and  art  of  diagnosis  were  given  an  amazing 
impetus  almost  instantly.  Possibly  one  cannot  find  in 
the  whole  history  of  modern  invention  any  instrument 
so  small  and  so  inexpensive  that  has  been  so  widely  and 
definitely  useful.  A  painful  interest  hangs  to  it  in  the 
fact  that  by  means  of  his  own  invention,  Laennec  dis- 


198  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

covered  that  he  himself  was  dying  of  tuberculosis  of 
the  lungs. 

In  July,  1820,  a  discovery  of  a  vastly  different  char- 
acter was  made  by  Oersted  in  Copenhagen;  the  discov- 
ery that  if  a  current  of  electricity  be  passed  over  or 
under  a  magnetic  needle,  the  needle  will  be  deflected 
in  a  direction  and  to  a  degree  depending  on  the  strength 
and  direction  of  the  current  and  the  position  of  the 
conducting  wire  relatively  to  the  needle.  Now  Laennec 
invented  a  simple  and  little  instrument  that  began  vir- 
tually perfect,  and  that  exists  today  substantially  as  it 
started.  Oersted  did  something  equally  important,  that 
ultimately  initiated  intricate  inventions  of  many  kinds, 
and  yet  he  did  not  really  invent  anything  whatever. 
The  importance  of  his  discovery  was  recognized  at 
once ;  so  quickly,  in  fact,  and  by  so  many  experimenters 
and  inventors,  that  Oersted  soon  found  himself  in  the 
extraordinary  position  of  being  left  behind,  in  an  art 
to  which  himself  had  almost  unknowingly  given  birth ! 
That  some  relation  existed  between  magnetism  and 
electricity  had  long  been  evident  to  physicists;  but  what 
that  relation  was  they  did  not  know  until  Oersted  told 
them.  They  seized  on  his  information  with  avidity, 
with  results  that  the  whole  world  knows  now. 

The  first  man  heard  from  was  Ampere,  who  com- 
municated the  results  of  his  experiments  in  the  new 
art  to  the  Institute  of  France  as  early  as  September 
18th.  Almost  immediately  afterward,  Arago  discov- 
ered that,  if  a  conducting  wire  were  wrapped  around 
iron  wires,  those  iron  wires  became  magnets  and  re- 
mained magnets  as  long  as  the  electric  current  con- 
tinued to  pass.  Thereupon,  Arago  made  and  an- 
nounced his  epoch-making  invention,  the  electro-mag- 
net. The  influence  of  this  invention  on  the  subsequent 
history  of  the  machine  of  civilization,  it  is  hardly  need- 
ful to  point  out. 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON      199 

The  experiments  of  Oersted  gave  rise  at  once  to 
much  speculation  as  to  the  nature  of  the  action  be- 
tween electric  currents  and  magnets,  and  also  to  consid- 
erable experimental  and  mathematical  research.  As 
had  been  the  case  for  many  thousand  years  in  other 
endeavors,  speculation  accomplished  little,  but  experi- 
mental research  accomplished  much.  By  this  time 
mathematics  had  been  highly  developed,  not  only  as 
an  abstract  science  but  also  as  an  aid  to  physical  and 
chemical  research.  The  man  who  attacked  the  problem 
in  the  most  scientific  manner  was  Ampere,  who  in  con- 
sequence solved  it  in  the  following  year,  after  a  series 
of  mathematically  conducted  experiments  of  the  utmost 
originality  and  inductiveness.  As  a  result  in  1820,  he 
showed  that  all  the  actions  and  reactions  of  magnets 
could  be  performed  by  coils  of  wire  through  which 
electric  currents  were  passing,  even  if  there  was  no 
iron  within  the  coils :  —  but  that  they  were  more  pow- 
erful, if  iron  were  within.  From  this  and  kindred  facts, 
which  he  developed  by  experiment  —  (especially  the 
fact  that  electric  currents  act  and  react  on  each  other 
as  magnets  do),  he  established  a  new  science  to  which 
he  gave  the  name  electro-dynamics.  In  recognition  of 
his  contributions  to  electricity,  the  name  given  many 
years  later  to  the  unit  of  electric  current  was  ampere. 

In  the  following  years,  while  pursuing  a  series  of 
investigations  into  the  new  science,  Faraday  invented 
the  first  electro-magnetic  machines.  In  the  first  ma- 
chine, a  magnet  floating  in  mercury  was  made  to  re- 
volve continuously  around  a  central  conducting  wire 
through  which  an  electric  current  was  passing;  in  the 
second  a  conductor  was  made  to  revolve  continuously 
around  a  fixed  magnet;  in  a  third  machine,  a  magnet 
so  mounted  on  a  longitudinal  axis  that  an  electric  cur- 
rent could  be  made  to  pass  from  one  pole  half  way  to 
the  other  pole,  and  then  out,  would  revolve  continu- 


200  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ously  as  long  as  the  electric  current  was  made  to  pass. 
Faraday  invented  the  first  machines  that  converted 
the  energy  of  the  electric  current  into  mechanical  mo- 
tion; though  Oersted  was  the  first  who  merely  effected 
the  conversion.  It  can  hardly  be  said  that  Oersted 
invented  a  machine;  but  Faraday  certainly  did. 

The  first  utilization  of  Oersted's  discovery  in  a  con- 
crete and  practically  usable  device  was  the  galavanom- 
eter,  invented  by  Schweigger  in  1820.  It  was  a  bril- 
liant invention,  and  solved  perfectly  the  important 
problem  of  measuring  accurately  the  strength  of  an 
electric  current.  The  apparatus  consisted  merely  of  a 
means  of  multiplying  the  effect  of  the  deflecting  current 
by  winding  the  conductor  into  a  coil,  the  magnetic  needle 
being  within  the  coil.  The  galvanometer  (named  after 
Galvani)  was  an  invention  of  the  utmost  value,  and  it 
is  in  use  to  this  day,  though  in  many  modified  forms. 
When  one  realizes  how  obvious  a  utilization  of  Oer- 
sted's discovery  the  galvanometer  was,  and  that 
Schweigger  did  not  invent  it  until  two  years  later,  he 
wonders  why  Oersted  himself  did  not  invent  it.  But 
the  history  of  invention  is  full  of  such  cases  and  of 
cases  still  more  amazing.  Why  did  the  world  wait 
several  thousand  years  before  Wise  invented  the  metal 
pen?  Why  are  we  not  now  inventing  a  great  many 
more  things  than  we  are?  Nature  is  holding  out  sug- 
gestions for  inventions  to  us  by  the  million,  but  we  do 
not  see  them. 

In  the  year  before  Schweigger's  invention,  in  1821, 
the  important  discovery  had  been  made  by  Seebeck  in 
Berlin,  that  if  two  different  metals  are  joined  at  their 
ends,  and  one  junction  be  raised  to  a  higher  tempera- 
ture than  the  other,  a  current  of  electricity  will  be 
generated,  the  strength  of  which  will  vary  with  the 
metals  employed  and  the  difference  in  temperature  of 
the  junctions.  The  discovery  was  soon  utilized  in 


THE   AGE    OF    STEAM   AND    NAPOLEON     201 

Nobili's  invention  of  the  thermopile  in  which  the  cur- 
rent was  increased  by  employing  several  layers  of  dis- 
similar metals  (say  antimony  and  bismuth)  in  series 
with  each  other.  The  main  use  of  the  thermopile  has 
been  in  scientific  investigations,  especially  in  the  science 
of  heat. 

One  of  the  results  of  the  increased  use  of  mathe- 
matics, especially  arithmetic,  was  the  invention  of  Bab- 
bage's  calculating  machine  in  1822.  The  usefulness 
of  this  invention  was  so  apparent  that  it  was  not  long 
in  coming  into  use,  or  long  in  causing  the  invention  of 
improvements  on  it  of  many  kinds.  The  calculating 
machine  was  a  distinct  contribution  to  civilization. 

Another  contribution,  but  of  quite  a  different  kind, 
was  made  by  Faraday  in  the  following  year  (1823) 
when,  after  a  series  of  experiments,  he  announced  that 
he  had  succeeded  in  liquefying  many  of  the  gases  then 
known  by  the  combined  action  of  cold  and  pressure. 
The  possibility  of  doing  this  had  long  been  suspected 
by  physicists  reasoning  from  known  phenomena;  but 
the  actual  accomplishment  of  the  liquefaction  of  gas 
was  none  the  less  a  feat  of  a  high  order  of  brilliancy 
and  usefulness.  In  experiments  subsequently  made, 
Dewar  receive'd  the  gases  in  a  vessel  of  his  invention 
which  had  double  walls,  the  space  between  which  he 
had  exhausted  of  air,  and  thus  made  a  vacuum — which 
is  a  non-conductor  of  heat.  The  uthermos  bottle"  of 
today  was  invented  by  the  great  chemist  Dewar,  and 
is  not  therefore  a  new  invention. 

Meanwhile,  the  steam  engine  had  been  undergoing 
rapid  development,  though  the  use  of  locomotives  for 
drawing  passenger  trains  does  not  seem  to  have  come 
into  regular  use  until  the  Liverpool  and  Manchester 
Railroad  was  opened  in  1830.  In  1828,  the  Delaware 
and  Hudson  Canal  Company  constructed  a  short  rail- 
road, and  sent  an  agent  to  England  to  buy  the  neces- 


202  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

sary  locomotives  and  rails.  In  the  four  years  follow- 
ing twelve  railroad  companies  were  incorporated.  The 
Baltimore  and  Susquehanna  began  actual  operations 
in  1831. 

The  inventions  of  Hero,  Branca,  Worcester,  Savery, 
Papin  and  Leupold,  brought  to  practicality  by  Watt, 
had  now  come  to  full  fruition,  and  entered  upon  that 
career  of  world-wide  usefulness  that  has  advanced 
civilization  so  tremendously  and  still  continues  to  ad- 
vance it. 

But  the  most  decisive  triumph  of  the  steam  engine 
had  come  more  than  a  decade  before,  when  in  1819 
the  American  steamship  Savannah  crossed  the  Atlantic 
ocean  in  26  days,  going  from  the  United  States  to 
Liverpool. 


CHAPTER    IX 

INVENTIONS   IN    STEAM,   ELECTRICITY  AND 
CHEMISTRY  CREATE  A  NEW  ERA 

WHEN  the  nineteenth  century  opened,  George  III 
was  King  of  England,  Napoleon  was  First  Con- 
sul of  France,  Francis  II  was  Emperor  of  Germany, 
Frederick  William  III  was  King  of  Prussia,  Alexander 
was  Czar  of  Russia  (beginning  1801),  and  John 
Adams  was  President  of  the  United  States. 

By  this  time  the  influence  of  the  inventions  of  the 
few  centuries  immediately  preceding,  especially  the  in- 
vention of  the  gun  and  that  of  printing,  was  clearly  in 
evidence.  The  Feudal  System  had  entirely  vanished, 
the  sway  of  great  and  powerful  sovereigns  had  taken 
the  place  in  Europe  of  the  arbitrary  rule  of  petty  dukes 
and  barons,  the  value  of  the  natural  sciences  was  ap- 
preciated, and  a  fine  literature  had  developed  in  all  the 
countries. 

A  terrible  war  was  raging,  however,  that  was  not 
to  end  for  fifteen  years  and  that  involved,  directly  or 
indirectly,  nearly  every  European  nation.  The  war  had 
started  in  France,  where  the  tremendous  intellectual 
movement  had  aroused  the  excitable  people  of  that  land 
to  a  realization  of  the  oppression  of  the  nobility  and 
a  determination  to  make  it  cease. 

The  wars  that  ensued  were  not  so  different  from  the 
wars  of  the  Egyptians  and  other  ancient  nations  as  one 
might  carelessly  suppose,  because  the  weapons  were 
not  very  different.  The  only  weapon  that  was  very 
novel  was  the  gun;  and  the  gun  of  the  year  1800  was 
a  contrivance  so  vastly  inferior  to  the  gun  that  exists 

203 


204  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

today  as  not  to  be  immeasurably  superior  to  the  bow 
and  arrow.  It  had  to  be  loaded  slowly  at  the  muzzle ; 
and  the  powder  was  so  non-uniform  and  in  other  ways 
inferior,  that  the  gun's  range  was  short  and  its  accu- 
racy slight.  Even  the  artillery  that  Bonaparte  used  so 
skillfully  was  crude  and  ineffective,  according  to  the 
standards  of  today.  The  cavalry  was  not  very  different 
from  the  cavalry  of  the  Assyrians,  and  the  military 
engineers  performed  few  feats  greater  than  that  of 
Caesar's,  in  building  the  bridge  across  the  Rhine.  There 
were  no  railroads,  no  steamships,  no  telegraphs,  no 
telephones.  There  was  less  difference  between  the 
armies  of  1800  A.  D.  and  those  of  1800  B.  C,  than 
between  the  armies  of  1800  A.  D.  and  those  of  1900 
A.  D. 

The  same  remark  applies  to  virtually  all  the  ma- 
terial conditions  of  living.  There  was  less  difference, 
for  instance,  between  the  fine  buildings  of  1800  B.  C. 
and  1800  A.  D.  than  between  the  fine  buildings  of  1800 
and  1900  A.  D.  The  influence  of  the  new  inventions 
on  the  material  conditions  of  living  was  only  beginning 
to  be  felt;  for  the  twin  agencies  of  steam  and  electricity, 
that  were  later  to  make  the  difference,  had  not  yet  got 
to  work.  It  was  the  power  of  steam  that  was  to  trans- 
port men  and  materials  across  vast  oceans  and  across 
great  continents  at  high  speed,  and  place  in  the  hands 
of  every  people  the  natural  fruits  and  the  foods  and  the 
raw  materials  and  the  manufactured  appliances  of 
other  lands ;  it  was  the  subtle  influence  of  electricity  that 
was  to  give  every  people  instant  communication  with 
every  other.  It  was  the  co-working  of  steam  and  elec- 
tricity that  was  to  make  possible  the  British  navy  and 
the  British  merchant  marine,  and  the  relatively  smaller 
merchant  marines  and  navies  of  other  countries,  and 
to  bring  all  the  world  under  the  dominance  of  Great 
Britain  and  of  the  other  countries  that  were  civilized. 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW   ERA       205 

The  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century,  therefore, 
marks  the  opening  of  a  new  era.  In  1800  the  steam 
engine  was  already  an  effective  appliance,  but  it  was 
not  yet  in  general  use.  Electricity  was  a  little  behind 
steam;  and  though  Franklin  and  the  others  had  proved 
that  it  possessed  vast  possibilities  of  many  kinds,  and 
also  that  it  could  be  harnessed  and  put  to  work  by  man 
for  the  benefit  of  man,  electricity  had  as  yet  accom- 
plished little  of  real  value. 

Under  the  stimulating  influence  of  the  quick  com- 
munication given  by  the  art  of  printing,  literature  had 
blossomed  especially  in  Great  Britain,  France,  Ger- 
many and  Italy;  but  in  1800  one  has  to  notice  the  same 
fact  as  in  previous  years — literature  had  not  improved. 
The  literature  of  1800  A.  D.  was  no  better  than  the 
literature  of  Greece  or  Elizabethan  England — to  state 
the  truth  politely;  and  no  such  poet  lived  as  Homer, 
Shakespeare  or  John  Milton.  It  seems  to  be  a  charac- 
teristic of  literature,  and  of  all  the  fine  arts  as  well, 
that  each  great  product  is  solely  a  product  of  one  hu- 
man mind,  and  not  the  product  of  the  combined  work 
of  many  minds.  To  the  invention  of  Watt's  steam  en- 
gine, numberless  obscure  investigators  and  inventors 
had  contributed,  besides  those  whose  great  names 
everybody  knows :  but  how  can  two  men  write  a  poem 
or  any  work  of  fiction,  or  paint  a  picture  or  carve  a 
statue?  It  is  true  that  each  of  these  feats  has  been 
performed;  but  rarely  and  not  with  great  success. 

For  this  reason,  it  is  not  clear  that  mere  literature 
as  literature,  or  that  any  of  the  fine  arts  as  such  can 
exert  much  influence  on  history,  and  it  is  not  clear  that 
any  of  them  have  done  so.  That  they  have  had  great 
influence  in  conducing  to  the  pleasure  of  individuals 
there  can  be  no  question;  but  the  influence  seems  to 
have  been  transient.  History  is  a  record  of  such  of  the 


206  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

doings  of  men  as  have  had  influence  at  the  time,  or  in 
the  future.  Of  these  doings,  the  agency  that  has  had 
the  most  obvious  influence  is  war,  and  next  to  war  is 
invention.  War,  next  after  disease,  has  caused  the 
most  suffering  the  world  knows  of;  but  out  of  the  suf- 
fering have  emerged  the  great  nations  without  which 
modern  civilization  could  not  exist.  The  influence  of 
invention  is  not  so  obvious,  but  it  is  perhaps  as  great, 
or  nearly  so;  the  main  reason  being  that  invention  has 
been  the  agency  which  has  enabled  those  nations  to 
emerge  that  have  emerged.  Without  the  appliances 
that  invention  has  supplied,  the  civilized  man  could  not 
have  triumphed  over  the  savage. 

Now  literature  and  painting  and  sculpture  and  music, 
while  they  have  made  life  easier  and  pleasanter,  have 
contributed  little  to  this  work,  and  in  many  ways  have 
rather  prevented  it  from  going  further  by  softening 
people,  physically  and  mentally.  This  statement  must 
not  be  accepted  without  reservations  of  course;  for  the 
reason  that  some  poems,  some  works  of  fiction,  and 
some  paintings  and  (especially)  some  musical  compo- 
sitions have  tended  to  strengthen  character,  and  even 
to  stimulate  the  martial  spirit.  But  a  careful  inspec- 
tion of  most  works  of  pure  literature  and  fine  art  must 
lead  a  candid  person  to  admit  that  the  major  part  of 
their  effect  has  been  to  please, — to  gratify  the  appetite 
of  the  mind  rather  than  to  inspire  it  to  action. 

The  author  here  requests  any  possible  reader  of 
these  pages,  not  to  infer  that  he  has  any  objection  to 
being  pleased  himself,  or  to  having  others  pleased;  or 
that  he  regards  the  influence  of  literature  and  the  fine 
arts  as  being  detrimental  to  the  race.  On  the  contrary, 
he  regards  them  as  being  valuable  in  the  highest  degree. 
He  is  merely  trying  to  point  out  the  difference  between 
the  influence  of  inventions  in  the  useful  arts  and  those 
in  the  fine  arts. 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW    ERA      207 

A  like  remark  may  be  made  concerning  inventors 
and  other  men;  the  word  inventors  being  here  supposed 
to  mean  the  men  who  make  inventions  of  all  kinds. 
These  men  seem  to  have  been  those  who  have  brought 
into  existence  those  machines  and  books  and  projects  of 
all  kinds  that  have  determined  the  kind  of  machine  of 
civilization  that  has  now  been  produced.  These  men 
are  very  few,  compared  with  the  great  bulk  of  hu- 
manity; but  it  seems  to  be  they  who  have  given  direc- 
tion to  the  line  along  which  the  machine  has  been 
developed. 

This  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  these  men  have 
been  more  estimable  themselves  than  the  men  who  kept 
the  machine  in  smooth  and  regular  motion,  and  made 
the  repairs,  and  supplied  the  oil  and  fuel;  but  it  does 
mean  that  they  had  more  influence  in  making  its  im- 
provements. Naturally,  their  work  in  making  improve- 
ments would  have  been  of  no  avail,  if  other  men  had 
not  exerted  industry  and  carefulness  and  intelligence 
and  courage,  in  the  countless  tasks  entailed  in  main- 
taining the  machine  in  good  repair,  in  keeping  it  run- 
ning smoothly,  and  in  receiving  with  open  minds  and 
helping  hands  each  new  improvement  as  it  came  along. 
And  it  was  not  only  in  welcoming  real  improvements, 
but  in  keeping  out  novelties  which  seemed  to  be  im- 
provements but  were  not  improvements  that  the  work 
of  what  may  be  called  the  operators,  as  distinguished 
from  the  inventors,  was  beneficent.  Nothing  could  be 
more  injurious  to  the  machine  than  to  permit  the  in- 
corporation in  it  of  parts  that  would  not  improve  it. 
There  has  been  little  danger  to  fear  from  this  source, 
however;  for  the  inertia  of  men  is  such  that  it  is  only 
rarely  that  one  sees  any  new  device  accepted,  until  it 
has  proved  its  value  definitely  and  unmistakably  in 
practical  work. 

Possibly  the  greatest  single  impetus  given  to  prog- 


208  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

ress  about  the  year  1800  was  that  given  by  Lavoisier 
shortly  before,  which  started  the  science  of  chemistry 
on  the  glorious  career  it  has  since  pursued.  As  a  sepa- 
rate branch  of  science,  chemistry  then  began,  though  it 
had  been  the  subject  of  investigation  for  many  cen- 
turies, beginning  in  Egypt  and  the  other  ancient  coun- 
tries of  the  East.  In  the  Middle  Ages,  it  was  known  in 
Europe  by  the  name  Alchemy.  Originally,  and  in  all 
the  long  ages  of  its  infancy,  the  investigations  of  the 
experimenters  were  carried  on  mainly  to  discover  new 
remedies  in  medicine,  or  to  learn  methods  to  transmute 
base  metals  into  precious  metals;  though  there  was  a 
considerable  degree  also  of  pursuit  of  knowledge  for 
its  own  sake.  As  a  result  of  the  investigations,  many 
startling  facts  were  developed,  and  many  discoveries 
were  made ;  but,  for  the  reason  that  the  investigations 
were  not  conducted  on  the  mathematical  or  quantitative 
lines  that  had  led  to  so  much  success  in  developing 
physics,  alchemy  or  chemistry  did  not  rest  on  any  sure 
basis,  and  therefore  had  no  fixed  place  to  start  from. 
It  was  in  the  same  vague  status  that  some  subjects  of 
thoughtful  speculation  are  in  today,  such  as  telepathy, 
which  may  (or  may  not)  be  put  on  a  basis  of  fact  some 
day,  and  started  forward  thence,  as  chemistry  was 
started. 

What  gave  chemistry  its  basis  was  the  methods  in- 
troduced by  Lavoisier  who  was  a  practiced  physicist. 
He  introduced  the  balance  into  the  study  of  chemistry, 
and  raised  it  instantly  from  a  collection  of  speculations 
to  an  exact  science,  capable  of  progressing  confidently 
and  assuredly  thereafter,  instead  of  wandering  in  a 
maze.  Lavoisier  gave  chemistry  a  mathematical  basis 
to  start  from,  and  sure  beacon  lights  to  guide  it;  and 
though  many  changes  in  its  theory  have  been  made 
from  time  to  time,  they  have  been  due  only  to  increase 
of  knowledge  and  not  to  departure  from  fundamental 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW   ERA       209 

principles.  Finding  that  a  substance  was  not  an  ele- 
ment, but  was  a  compound  of  two  elements,  or  more 
than  two,  did  not  require  any  rejection  of  accepted 
principles,  but  merely  a  readjustment. 

We  now  see  that  it  was  impossible  because  of  the 
exact  nature  of  the  way  in  which  the  various  elements 
combine,  that  chemistry  could  have  become  a  science 
until  the  balance  had  been  used  to  weigh  the  substances 
investigated;  and  we  also  see  that  it  was  impossible  that 
the  balance  could  have  been  so  used  until  physics  had 
been  developed  to  the  point  permitting  it,  and  men 
skilled  in  exact  measurements  had  been  brought  up  by 
practice  in  physical  researches.  Lavoisier  himself  had 
served  a  long  apprenticeship,  and  his  earliest  claim  to 
fame  was  his  mathematical  researches  on  heat,  em- 
bodied in  an  essay,  written  in  connection  with  Laplace, 
and  published  in  1784.  Even  after  an  enormous  mass 
of  facts  had  been  collected  and  announced,  chemistry 
could  not  take  her  place  by  the  side  of  physics,  and 
Bacon's  teachings  could  not  be  followed,  until  those 
facts  had  been  mathematically  investigated,  and  their 
mathematical  relations  to  each  other  had  been  estab- 
lished. This  Lavoisier  and  his  followers  did. 

No  better  illustration  of  the  influence  of  invention 
on  history  can  be  found  than  the  fact  that  chemistry 
hovered  in  the  dim  twilight  of  speculation,  guess-work 
and  even  superstition,  until  Lavoisier  brought  to  bear 
the  various  inventions  made  in  physics.  Then,  presto, 
the  science  of  chemistry  was  born. 

We  must  not  let  the  fact  escape  us,  however,  that 
Lavoisier  would  have  left  mankind  none  the  wiser,  if 
he  had  merely  brought  mathematical  research  to  bear 
and  discovered  what  he  did,  and  then  stopped.  If  he 
had  stopped  then,  his  knowledge  would  have  remained 
locked  inside  of  his  own  mind,  useless.  The  good  work 
that  Lavoisier  actually  did  was  in  actually  producing 


210  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

an  invention ;  in  conceiving  a  certain  definite  method  of 
chemical  research,  then  embodying  it  in  such  a  concrete 
form  that  "persons  skilled  in  the  art  could  make  and 
use  it,"  and  then  giving  it  to  the  world. 

The  first  important  effect  of  Lavoisier's  work  was 
the  announcement  by  Dalton  about  1808  of  his  Atomic 
Theory,  which  has  been  the  basis  of  most  of  the  work 
of  chemistry  ever  since.  Dalton's  earlier  work  had 
been  in  physics,  and  its  principal  result  had  been  "Dal- 
ton's Laws"  in  regard  to  the  evaporation  and  expansion 
of  gases,  announced  by  him  about  1801.  These  inves- 
tigations led  his  mind  to  the  consideration  of  the  vari- 
ous speculations  that  had  been  entertained  concerning 
the  nature  of  matter  itself,  as  distinguished  from  the 
actions  and  reactions  between  material  objects  that 
physics  studies ;  and  they  brought  him  to  the  conclusion 
that  there  are  certain  substances  or  elements  which 
combine  together  to  form  compounds  that  are  wholly 
different  from  each  of  the  elements  (oxygen  and  hy- 
drogen, for  instance,  combining  to  form  water)  ;  and 
that  those  elements  are  made  up  of  units  absolutely  in- 
divisible, which  combine  with  each  other  in  absolutely 
exact  proportions.  The  units  he  called  atoms.  He 
built  up  a  theory  wonderfully  convincing  and  coherent, 
that  explained  virtually  all  the  chemical  phenomena 
then  known,  and  supplied  a  stepping-stone  following 
Lavoisier's,  from  which  chemists  could  advance  still 
further.  Dalton  classified  certain  substances  as  ele- 
ments which  we  now  know  are  not  elements,  because 
they  have  been  found  since  to  be  compounds  of  two  or 
more  elements;  but  this  in  itself  does  not  disprove  his 
theory,  because  he  himself  pointed  out  that  means 
might  be  found  later  to  decompose  certain  materials 
that  seemed  then  to  be  elements,  because  no  means  had 
then  been  found  to  decompose  them. 

It  may  be  instructive  to  note  here  that  Dalton  was 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW    ERA       211 

not  the  first  to  imagine  that  certain  forms  of  matter 
were  elemental,  or  that  matter  was  indivisible  beyond  a 
certain  point,  or  that  substances  entered  into  combina- 
tion with  each  other  in  definite  proportions.  Specula- 
tion on  all  these  points  had  been  rife  for  many  years, 
but  it  had  not  produced  the  invention  of  any  workable 
law  or  even  theory.  Similarly,  many  men  later  specu- 
lated on  the  possibility  of  devising  an  electrical  instru- 
ment that  would  transform  the  mechanical  energy  of 
sound  waves  into  electrical  energy,  transfer  the  elec- 
trical energy  over  a  wire,  and  re-convert  it  into  sound; 
but  no  one  succeeded  in  producing  such  an  instrument, 
until  Bell  invented  the  telephone  in  1876. 

History  is  a  record  of  acts,  and  not  of  dreams.  And 
yet  the  greatest  acts  were  dreamed  of  before  they  were 
performed.  Every  process,  no  matter  how  small  or  how 
great,  seems  to  proceed  by  three  stages — conception, 
development  and  production.  Most  of  our  acts  are 
almost  automatic,  and  the  three  stages  succeed  each 
other  so  quickly  that  only  the  final  stage  itself  is  noted. 
But  the  greatest  acts,  from  which  great  results  have 
followed,  have  begun  with  the  conception  of  a  picture 
not  of  an  ordinary  kind,  such  as  a  great  campaign,  a 
new  machine,  a  novel  theory,  a  book,  painting,  statue  or 
edifice  :  —  then  a  long  process  of  development,  during 
which  the  conception  is  gradually  embodied  in  some 
concrete  form,  as,  for  instance,  a  statue,  a  painting  or  an 
instrument; — and  then  production.  Finis  opus  coronal, 
the  end  crowns  the  work;  but  the  work  is  not  crowned 
until  it  is  finished,  and  a  concrete  entity  has  been 
brought  forth. 

Lavoisier  finished  his  work.  Not  only  did  he  dream 
a  dream,  but  he  embodied  his  dream  in  a  definite  form, 
and  gave  it  to  mankind  to  use.  Dalton  did  similarly. 
This  does  not  mean  that  their  work  was  not  improved 
upon  thereafter,  or  that  they  invented  the  chemistry 


212  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

of  today.  They  merely  laid  the  foundation  of  chem- 
istry, and  placed  the  first  two  stones. 

A  remarkable  exemplar  of  the  meaning  of  this  dec- 
laration was  Benjamin  Thomson,  who  was  an  Ameri- 
can by  birth,  but  who  entered  the  Austrian  Army  after 
the  War  of  the  Revolution,  and  made  an  unprecedented 
record  in  the  application  of  physical  and  chemical 
science  to  the  relief  of  the  distressed  and  ignorant  and 
poor,  especially  the  mendicant  classes.  For  his  serv- 
ices he  was  made  Count  Rumford.  His  researches 
were  mostly  in  the  line  of  saving  heat  and  light,  and 
therefore  saving  food  and  fuel.  He  ascertained  by 
experiments  of  the  utmost  ingenuity  and  thoroughness 
that  the  warmth  of  clothing  was  because  of  the  air  en- 
tangled in  its  fibers;  he  investigated  the  radiation,  con- 
duction and  convection  of  heat,  analyzed  the  ways  in 
which  heat  could  be  economized,  and  invented  a  calo- 
rimeter for  testing  the  heat-giving  value  of  different 
fuels.  In  1798  he  had  noted  the  fact  that  heat  was 
developed  when  cannon  were  being  bored.  He  imme- 
diately conceived  the  idea  that  the  heat  developed  was 
related  to  the  amount  of  work  expended  driving  the 
boring  tool,  and  invented  a  means  of  measuring  it.  This 
consisted  simply  of  a  blunt  boring  tool  that  pressed 
into  a  socket  in  a  metal  block  that  was  immersed  in 
water,  of  which  the  temperature  could  be  taken.  To 
get  a  basis  for  his  investigations  into  the  problem  of 
lighting  economically  the  dwellings  of  the  poor,  Rum- 
ford  invented  a  photometer  for  measuring  illumination. 
No  man  in  history  shows  more  clearly  the  co-working 
of  a  high  order  of  imagination,  and  a  careful  and  ac- 
curate constructiveness ;  and  no  man  ever  secured  more 
intensely  practical  and  beneficent  results.  In  the  hos- 
pital at  Verona  he  reduced  the  consumption  of  fuel  to 
one-eighth. 

In  1827  a  valuable  improvement  was  made  to  the 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW    ERA       213 

machine  of  civilization  by  Ohm,  who  announced  the 
now  famous  Ohm's  Law,  that  the  strength  of  an  elec- 
tric current  in  any  circuit  is  equal  to  the  difference  in 
potential  of  the  ends  of  the  circuit,  divided  by  its  re- 

Tf 

sistance.   This  is  usually  expressed  by  writing  C  =  — . 

K. 

E 

Can  anything  be  less  inspiring  than  C  =  — ?     Yes: 

R 

— few  things  have  been  more  inspiring.  Few  things 
have  inspired  more  zeal  for  work  than  that  simple 
formula.  That  simple  formula  evolved  order  out  of 
chaos  in  the  little  but  super-important  world,  in  which 
physicists  and  chemists  were  trying  to  solve  the  riddles 
that  the  utilization  of  electric  currents  presented.  It 
gave  them  a  basis  from  which  to  start,  and  a  definite 
rule  to  work  by.  No  oration  of  Demosthenes,  Cicero 
or  Webster  has  imparted  more  inspiration,  or  supplied 

a  greater  stimulus  to  high  effort,  or  done  more  for 

p 

human  kind  than  C  =~fr 

In  1827  Walker  in  the  United  States  invented  fric- 
tion matches.  It  seems  strange  that  someone  had  not 
invented  matches  before.  The  usual  way  of  getting 
light  was  with  the  flint  and  steel  and  tinder-box, — a 
most  inconvenient  contrivance.  It  was  quite  well 
known  that  certain  substances  would  ignite  when 
rubbed,  and  yet  men  waited  until  1827  to  utilize  the 
fact  in  matches ! 

In  the  following  year  Wohler  succeeded  in  reducing 
aluminum,  thus  contributing  a  valuable  new  factor  to 
human  knowledge  and  a  valuable  new  metal  to  human 
needs.  In  the  same  year  Neilson  took  out  a  patent  in 
England  for  uan  improved  application  of  air  to  pro- 
duce heat  in  fires,  forges  and  furnaces, "  in  which  he 
proposed  to  pass  a  current  of  heated  air  through  the 


214  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

burning  fuel.  His  invention  met  with  opposition  of  all 
kinds,  but  eventually  proved  its  usefulness.  Another 
invention  produced  in  the  same  year  was  Woodworth's 
machine  for  planing  wood.  Still  another,  was  the  tubu- 
lar boiler  for  locomotives. 

In  1829  the  first  steam  locomotive  was  put  into  use 
in  the  United  States.  No  especial  invention  seems  to 
have  been  expended  on  this  device;  but  there  was  con- 
siderable invention  of  the  kind  that  I  have  ventured  to 
call  "opportunistic"  involved  in  conceiving  the  idea  of 
getting  the  locomotive,  and  then  in  actually  getting  it, 
and  then  putting  it  to  work.  In  the  following  year 
Braithwaite  and  Ericsson  in  London  brought  out  the 
first  portable  fire-engine.  There  was  a  great  deal  of 
invention  of  the  practical  kind  involved  in  the  design, 
construction,  production  and  successful  employment  of 
this  novel  device;  and  an  important  step  was  taken  in 
the  means  of  protecting  life  and  the  material  products 
of  civilization  from  destruction  by  fire. 

In  1831  Faraday  in  London  made  one  of  the  most 
important  discoveries  in  physical  science  ever  made, 
the  discovery  that  if  a  current  of  electricity  is  changed 
in  strength,  or  if  a  conductor  carrying  a  current  be 
moved,  an  instantaneous  magnetic  effect  is  felt  in  the 
vicinity;  and  that  this  magnetic  effect  will  cause  an  in- 
stantaneous current  in  any  closed  conducting  circuit  that 
may  be  near.  Faraday  also  discovered  that  a  similar 
instantaneous  current  will  be  set  up  in  a  closed  circuit 
if  a  magnet  be  moved  in  its  vicinity.  This  discovery 
is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  discovery  of  electro-magnetic 
induction;  and  the  instantaneous  currents  are  said  to 
be  "induced." 

About  the  same  time  Professor  Henry  in  Princeton 
discovered  that  an  electric  circuit  will  act  not  only  on 
other  circuits  in  its  vicinity,  but  on  itself;  that  the  fact 
of  being  increased  or  decreased  will  set  up  instanta- 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW    ERA       215 

neous  currents  that  tend  to  oppose  the  increase  or  de- 
crease. Thus,  while  Faraday  is  credited  with  the  dis- 
covery of  electro-magnetic  induction,  Henry  is  credited 
with  the  discovery  of  self-induction.  It  has  been 
claimed  by  some  that  Henry  discovered  electro-mag- 
netic induction  before  Faraday  did.  This  question  is 
of  great  interest  but  it  is  outside  the  scope  of  this 
modest  volume. 

While  both  discoveries  were  of  prime  importance, 
and  were  also  analogous,  that  of  electro-magnetic  in- 
duction has  played  the  more  conspicuous  part.  With 
it  began  the  endeavor  to  develop  electric  currents  by 
the  relative  motion  of  coils  of  wire  and  magnets,  that 
resulted  in  the  invention  of  the  dynamo,  and  the  later 
invention  of  electric  lights  and  motors. 

In  the  same  year  the  discovery  (or  was  it  the  in- 
vention?) of  chloroform  was  made  by  Guthrie  in 
America,  Soubeiran  in  France  and  Liebig  in  Germany. 
A  curious  fact  connected  with  the  early  history  of 
chloroform  is  that,  although  its  anaesthetic  properties 
were  known  in  general,  and  although  the  idea  of  using 
gases  and  vapors  and  medicines  to  deaden  pain  was 
many  centuries  old  yet  nevertheless,  chloroform  was 
not  put  to  practical  use  until  about  1846  when  Dr.  Mor- 
ton, a  dentist,  of  Boston,  adopted  it  as  an  anaesthetic. 
Of  all  the  single  inventions  ever  made,  chloroform  has 
unquestionably  done  more  than  any  other,  invented  till 
that  time,  to  give  relief  from  agony. 

In  1832  the  electric  telegraph  was  invented  by 
Morse,  though  he  did  not  patent  it  until  1837.  The 
influence  of  the  electric  telegraph  on  subsequent  history 
has  been  so  great  that  the  influence  of  no  contemporary 
invention  can  reasonably  be  declared  to  be  greater.  As 
with  many  other  inventions,  one  is  tempted  to  wonder 
why  it  had  not  been  invented  before;  for  the  fact  that 
electricity  could  be  sent  along  a  conductor  and  made  to 


216  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

cause  motion  at  the  other  end  had  been  known  since 
Guericke  had  demonstrated  the  fact  in  the  closing  years 
of  the  seventeenth  century.  The  original  invention  of 
the  electric  telegraph  is  claimed  by  some  for  Henry, 
who  had  a  wire  run  between  his  house  and  his  labora- 
tory at  Princeton,  over  which  he  sent  messages,  by 
opening  and  closing  the  circuit  and  thereby  actuating  an 
electro-magnet  at  the  receiving  end. 

The  first  machine  to  put  Faraday's  discovery  of 
magneto-electric  induction  to  practical  use  was  invented 
by  Pixii  in  France  in  1832,  and  exhibited  before  the 
Academy  of  Sciences.  It  consisted  of  a  powerful  mag- 
net that  was  made  to  revolve  with  great  rapidity  before 
a  bar  of  soft  iron  that  had  wrapped  around  it  a  coil 
of  insulated  wire  about  3,000  feet  long.  The  north 
and  south  poles  taking  position  in  succession  in  front 
of  the  coil,  currents  were  induced  that  alternated  in, 
direction,  twice  in  each  revolution.  If  a  man  grasped 
two  wires  in  the  circuit  he  received  a  series  of  sharp 
electric  shocks;  but  such  effects  as  decomposing  water 
that  were  produced  by  the  continuous  currents  of  Vol- 
taic batteries  could  not  be  produced  by  these  alternating 
currents.  To  secure  such  effects,  Siemens  and  others 
made  machines  in  which  the  magnet  in  the  form  of  a  U 
was  stationary,  two  coils  of  wire  revolved  in  front  of 
the  poles,  and  a  two-part  "commutator"  was  used. 
When  this  was  placed  on  the  axle,  and  the  axle  was 
revolved,  the  change  in  direction  of  the  current  was  ob- 
viated, though  a  smooth  and  uniform  current  was  not 
produced.  The  reason  was  that  the  current  fell  to  zero 
twice  in  each  revolution. 

The  magneto-electric  machine,  as  it  was  called,  re- 
mained virtually  in  this  form  for  many  years.  It  was 
not  sufficiently  effective  or  efficient  to  be  of  much  prac- 
tical usefulness  in  any  art,  and  was  considered  more  of 
a  scientific  toy  than  a  machine  of  serious  importance. 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW   ERA      217 

Still,  the  probability  was  realized  by  many  investiga- 
tors that  a  new  discovery  or  invention  might  be  made 
at  any  moment,  that  would  put  it  in  the  forefront  of 
the  useful  inventions  of  the  age.  (The  invention  was 
not  made  till  1862;  it  was  made  by  Pacinnotti  in  Italy 
and  will  be  mentioned  later.) 

The  influence  of  the  magneto-electric  machine,  there- 
fore was  not  direct,  but  indirect.  It  was  a  basic  inven- 
tion; and  like  many  basic  inventions,  it  formed  the  hid- 
den foundation  on  which  a  conspicuous  superstructure 
was  later  to  be  reared.  One  of  the  lessons  of  history 
is  that  it  is  the  men  and  the  methods  and  the  other 
things  which  are  in  evidence  when  some  important  oc- 
currence happens,  that  are  identified  with  it  in  the  minds 
of  people  not  only  at  the  time,  but  afterward.  An  in- 
vention that  may  have  cost  its  creator  the  toil  and 
struggle  of  a  lifetime  may  not  gain  success  simply  be- 
cause of  some  existing  unfavorable  conditions  of  some 
kind.  Suddenly  the  conditions  become  favorable.  John 
Doe  takes  advantage  of  all  the  work  that  other  men 
have  done,  adds  some  slight  improvement,  achieves 
"success"  and  dons  the  laurel  wreath. 

We  see  at  this  time  (1832)  very  clear  signs  of  an 
increasing  number  of  inventions  per  year,  an  increasing 
speed  of  invention.  We  see  an  acceleration  in  inven- 
tion which  we  cannot  help  associating  in  our  minds  with 
the  acceleration  which  any  material  object  gets,  when 
continuously  subjected  to  a  uniform  force,  like"  that  of 
gravity.  One  almost  feels  that  there  must  be  a  con- 
tinuous force  impelling  men  to  invent;  so  clear  is  the 
increase  of  the  speed  of  inventing. 

Following  the  magneto-machine  in  1832  came  the 
invention  of  a  rotary  electric  motor  by  Sturgeon,  the 
discovery  of  chloral-hydrate  by  Liebig,  the  production 
of  the  first  large  American  locomotive  by  Baldwin  and 
the  invention  of  link  motion  by  Sir  Henry  James.  The 


218  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

last  was  an  exceedingly  important  and  ingenious  con- 
tribution to  the  steam  engine,  especially  in  locomotives 
and  ships;  for  it  gave  a  very  quick  and  sure  means  of 
reversing  its  direction  of  motion,  and  of  regulating  the 
travel  of  the  valve  and  the  degree  of  expansion  of  the 
steam.  In  the  following  year  came  Stephenson's  steam 
whistle;  and  in  the  year  following  (1834)  came  the 
McCormick  reaper.  Few  inventions  have  had  a 
greater  or  a  more  immediate  effect  on  the  trend  of 
modern  progress,  which  is  to  influence  men  to  live  in 
large  communities.  For  the  McCormick  reaper  could 
do  so  much  more  work,  and  so  much  better  work,  than 
men  could  do  without  it,  that  the  cultivation  of  exten- 
sive areas  of  land  could  be  undertaken  with  the  assur- 
ance that  large  crops  of  grain  could  be  secured.  This 
not  only  secured  more  grain  for  the  country,  but  liber- 
ated many  men  from  toil  on  farms,  and  permitted  them 
to  migrate  to  the  cities. 

The  author  does  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  mean- 
ing that  migration  to  cities  is  wholly  desirable ;  for  he 
is  familiar  with  its  disadvantages  and  dangers.  But 
whether  it  be  desirable  or  not  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this 
book.  This  book  is  merely  a  modest  attempt  to  point 
out  the  influence  of  invention  in  making  the  world  what 
it  is  today.  Perhaps  it  would  have  been  better  if  men 
had  had  no  invention  and  had  remained  in  a  state  of 
savagery.  Some  men  say  so  sometimes ;  but  even  those 
men  (or  most  of  them)  like  to  sit  by  a  warm  fire  in  a 
cozy  room  when  it  is  cold  outdoors.  The  consensus  of 
opinion  seems  to  be  that  civilization  in  the  main  has 
been  a  blessing  to  men,  though  not  an  unmixed  bless- 
ing, and  though  men  must  keep  on  their  guard  against 
certain  manifest  dangers  which  civilization  entails. 

In  the  same  year,  1834,  Jacobi  invented  an  electric 
motor  and  Runge  made  the  important  discovery  of  car- 
bolic acid.  In  1835  Burden  invented  a  horse-shoe  ma- 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW   ERA      219 

chine.  In  1836  four  important  inventions  added  four 
important  parts  to  our  rapidly  growing  Machine. 

The  first  was  the  "constant  battery"  invented  by 
Dani'ell.  Before  this  time  a  Voltaic  cell,  or  battery, 
soon  lost  its  strength,  because  of  various  chemical  ac- 
tions inside  the  cell  which  need  not  be  detailed  here. 
Daniell  overcame  this  difficulty  almost  wholly  by  in- 
venting a  battery,  in  which  there  were  two  liquids  in- 
stead of  one,  and  the  two  liquids  were  in  two  separate 
compartments  but  separated  only  by  porous  material. 
This  invention  was  successful  from  the  start,  and  im- 
mediately increased  the  usefulness  of  Voltaic  batteries 
and  the  means  of  utilizing  electric  currents. 

The  second  great  invention  in  1836  was  that  of 
acetylene  gas  made  by  Edmund  Davy.  It  is  still  the 
most  brilliant  illuminating  gas  we  have,  and  is  rivaled 
by  the  electric  arc-light  only.  The  third  invention  was 
that  of  the  revolver,  made  by  Samuel  Colt 

It  may  be  objected  by  some  that  the  revolver  did 
not  contribute  anything  valuable  to  the  Machine  of 
Civilization  because  it  was  merely  an  improvement  on 
the  pistol,  and  enabled  one  to  kill  more  men  in  a  given 
time  than  he  could  before.  Such  an  objection  would 
have  much  to  justify  it;  but  it  may  be  pointed  out  that 
the  Machine  must  be  made  self-protective  as  far  as 
possible;  and  that  anything  which  increases  the  power 
of  civilized  man  as  against  the  savage,  or  barbarous,  or 
semi-barbarous  increases  its  power  of  self-protection. 
It  is  true  that  a  savage  can  use  a  revolver,  if  he  be  in- 
structed; but  the  more  complicated  a  weapon  is  the 
more  difficult  it  is  for  a  savage,  as  compared  with  a 
civilized  man,  to  use  it  effectively.  This  is  not  an  argu- 
ment in  favor  of  complication  for  its  own  sake ;  but  it 
is  an  argument  in  favor  of  accepting  complication  in  a 
weapon,  if  the  complication  renders  greater  effective- 
ness possible. 


220  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

The  last  invention  was  the  most  important  of  the 
four,  the  application  of  the  screw  propeller  to  naviga- 
tion made  by  John  Ericsson.  The  author  is  aware  of 
the  fact  that  this  invention  was  claimed  by  others,  and 
is  claimed  for  others  now.  The  weight  of  testimony, 
however  seems  to  be  on  the  side  of  Ericsson;  and  as 
has  been  pointed  out  before,  the  question  of  the  iden- 
tity of  the  inventor  is  not  important  to  our  discussion. 
The  first  ocean  steamship  to  be  propelled  by  a  screw 
was  the  Stockton,  which  was  built  in  England  under 
Ericsson  and  fitted  with  his  screw.  The  first  war-ship 
to  be  fitted  with  a  screw  was  the  U.  S.  S.  Princeton  in 
1841.  Its  screw  was  designed  by  Ericsson. 

In  1837  Crawford  invented  a  process  for  "galvaniz- 
ing" iron;  for  electro-plating  it  with  a  non-oxidizable 
metal.  The  value  of  this  invention  in  preserving  iron 
wire  and  iron  articles  in  general  needs  not  to  be  pointed 
out;  it  was  a  contribution  to  the  permanency  of  the 
Machine.  In  the  same  year,  Cooke  and  Wheatstone 
in  England  invented  their  famous  "Needle  Telegraph," 
in  which  a  magnetic  needle  was  made  to  deflect  quickly 
to  the  right  or  left  when  one  of  two  keys  was  pressed 
by  an  operator  and  letters  thereby  signaled.  This  in- 
vention was  a  valuable  contribution;  but  it  was  even- 
tually superseded  by  Morse's  telegraph,  after  that  sys- 
tem had  established  itself  in  the  United  States  and  on 
the  Continent. 

In  1839  Babbitt  invented  his  celebrated  Babbitt 
metal,  which  has  been  successfully  used  ever  since  in 
the  bearings  of  engines  and  in  moving  machinery  gen- 
erally, for  reducing  friction;  and  in  the  same  year 
Goodyear  made  an  invention  even  more  important,  the 
art  of  hardening,  or  "vulcanizing,"  rubber  by  means 
of  sulphur.  This  invention  was  a  great  boon  to  man- 
kind, but  not  to  Goodyear;  for  the  jackals  who  lie  in 
wait  for  great  inventions  eager  to  wrest  unearned  profit 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW   ERA       221 

for  themselves  from  the  men  who  have  truly  earned  it, 
made  Goodyear's  life  miserable  for  many  years.  Be- 
fore he  died,  however,  his  wrongs  were  righted  at 
least  in  part.  In  the  same  year  Jacobi,  in  Germany, 
propelled  a  boat  by  electricity  using  an  electric  motor 
of  his  own  invention. 

But  the  great  contributions  made  in  1839  were  to 
the  art  of  what  we  now  call  photography.  About  1834 
Talbot  had  succeeded  in  taking  pictures  in  a  camera  by 
the  agency  of  light  on  paper  washed  with  nitrate  of 
silver  and  also  in  fixing  them.  Later,  he  was  able  to 
obtain  many  copies,  or  "proofs,"  from  one  picture  or 
negative.  It  seems  that  he  did  not  publicly  announce 
his  invention  till  1839.  To  it  was  given  the  name  "cal- 
otype."  In  May  of  that  year  Mr.  Mungo  Ponton  an- 
nounced that  he  had  been  able  to  copy  pictures  of  en- 
gravings and  of  dried  plants  on  paper  that  he  had 
soaked  in  bichromate  of  potash.  A  number  of  other 
investigators  forthwith  announced  similar  feats,  using 
various  chemical  solutions. 

In  1840  Draper  published  the  result  of  certain  im- 
portant experiments  made  by  him  in  photographing 
celestial  bodies.  In  1841  pneumatic  caissons  were  nv 
vented  by  Triger  in  France.  In  1842  Long  discovered 
the  usefulness  of  ether  as  an  anaesthetic,  and  Seytre 
invented  the  automatically  played  piano.  In  the  same 
year,  Selligne  discovered  a  method  of  utilizing  water- 
gas,  made  by  decomposing  water  and  producing  a  new 
illuminating  agent  that  could  be  used  by  itself  or  in 
combination  with  coal  gas.  In  the  same  year  James 
Nasmyth  in  Scotland  invented  the  steam  hammer — a 
simple  appliance  by  means  of  which  steam  was  able  to 
make  a  hammer  give  blows  much  heavier  than  the 
human  arm  could  give.  This  invention  belongs  to  the 
class  in  which  the  human  muscles  are  assisted  in  doing 


222  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

work  which  the  brain  directs  them  to  do,  but  which 
they  are  not  strong  enough  to  do  effectively. 

The  self-playing  piano  belongs  in  a  class  closely 
allied,  in  which  the  machine  invented  merely  assists  the 
muscles :  the  assistance  in  this  class  being  not  in  supply- 
ing power  in  order  to  do  more  work,  however,  but  in 
supplying  what  may  be  called  auxiliary  physical 
agencies.  In  the  player  piano,  the  fingers  are  replaced 
by  little  mechanical  hammers;  in  the  steam  hammer  the 
arm  is  replaced  by  a  piston  actuated  by  steam.  One 
secures  quickness,  the  other  secures  force. 

But  the  self-playing  piano  and  the  steam  hammer 
are  in  very  different  classes,  when  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  their  influence  on  history.  The  influence 
of  the  piano  is  scarcely  discernible,  while  the  influence 
of  the  steam  hammer  stands  out  in  enormous  letters  of 
steel.  The  piano  seems  to  be  in  the  same  category  as 
are  literature  and  poetry  and  music  in  general :  it  serves 
to  please.  The  steam-hammer,  on  the  other  hand,  has 
had  so  great  an  influence  on  history  subsequent  to  its 
invention,  that  we  know  that  subsequent  history  could 
not  have  been  as  it  has  been,  if  the  steam  hammer  had 
not  been  invented. 

It  has  been  the  steam  hammer  and  the  ensuing  modi- 
fications of  it  that  have  made  possible  the  making  of 
large  forgings  of  iron  and  steel.  It  has  been  the  large 
forgings  of  iron  and  steel  that  have  made  possible  the 
use  of  large  solid  masses  of  those  metals  in  the  construc- 
tion of  engines,  guns,  shells,  houses,  bridges  and  ships. 
It  is  the  ability  to  use  large  and  solid  masses  of  iron 
and  steel,  free  from  holes  and  seams,  that  has  enabled 
constructors  and  engineers  to  produce  the  tremendous 
engineering  structures  that  characterize  today.  The 
main  element  in  the  progress  of  the  race  has  been  its 
triumph  over  the  forces  of  material  Nature.  This  tri- 
umph has  been  gained  by  inventors,  who  conceived  of 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW   ERA       223 

certain  methods  and  devices  (clothing,  for  instance)  by 
means  of  which  materials  provided  by  Nature  could 
be  utilized  by  man  to  protect  himself  against  her  at- 
tacks upon  him — attacks  by  cold,  for  instance.  Inven- 
tions of  the  useful  kind  have  had  a  history  of  their 
own,  as  definite  as  the  history  of  any  other  thing  or 
things,  in  which  it  is  shown  that  every  useful  instru- 
ment or  method  has  been  succeeded  by  another  and 
better ;  so  that  the  history  of  useful  inventions  may  be 
compared  to  a  picture  of  men  mounting  a  flight  of 
stairs  toward  civilization,  the  steps  of  the  stairs  being 
the  successive  useful  inventions  of  different  kinds. 

The  paragraph  just  written  is  not  intended  to  mean 
that  inventions  which  please  have  no  value,  but  merely 
to  point  out  the  difference  between  what  are  aptly  called 
the  fine  arts  and  the  useful  arts.  There  would  be  little 
happiness  given  to  man  by  toilsomely  climbing  the  stair- 
way to  civilization, .unless  he  were  occasionally  cheered 
on  the  way  by  a  strain  of  music,  or  a  beautiful  painting, 
or  a  poem,  or  a  brisk  walk  in  northwest  weather,  or 
a  gladdening  glass  of  wine.  It  may  be  argued  that 
these  are  the  things  that  really  give  happiness;  it  may 
be  claimed  that  these  things  go  direct  to  the  seat  of  hap- 
piness in  the  brain,  but  that  steam  hammers  merely 
provide  a  material  civilization,  which  continuously 
promises  to  make  men  happier  some  day,  but  never 
makes  them  happier. 

Verily,  verily,  the  way  to  happiness  is  not  so  clearly 
marked,  that  anyone  can  walk  in  it  all  the  time,  or  even 
for  five  minutes,  except  on  rare  occasions.  The  con- 
sensus of  opinion  seems  to  be,  however,  that  the  civil- 
ized man  is,  on  the  whole,  happier  than  the  savage;  that 
civilization  is  preferable  to  savagery.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  this  book,  moreover,  merely  to  point  out  that  that 
structure  of  civilization  has  become  so  complicated  and 
is  moving  so  fast  that  it  is  now  a  veritable  machine  and 


224  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

to  indicate  the  part  that  invention  has  taken  in  build- 
ing it. 

Not  only  is  it  a  veritable  machine,  it  is  the  largest, 
the  most  powerful,  the  most  intricate  machine  we  know 
of — except  the  solar  system  and  the  greater  systems 
beyond  it.  And  not  only  is  it  powerful  and  intricate — 
it  is,  like  all  powerful  and  intricate  machines,  extremely 
delicate.  Extreme  delicacy  is  a  characteristic  of  all 
machines;  it  is  inherent  in  every  machine,  simply  be- 
cause the  good  working  of  every  part  is  dependent  on 
the  good  working  of  every  other  part.  An  organism  is 
a  machine  of  the  highest  order,  and  therefore  possesses 
this  characteristic  of  inter-dependability  in  its  highest 
form.  A  club  is  not  an  organism,  or  even  a  machine, 
and  does  not  possess  it.  If  a  man  injures  one  end  of  a 
club  the  other  end  is  just  as  good  as  before;  but  if  a 
club  injures  one  end  of  a  man,  the  other  end  is  in- 
jured also.  A  severe  blow  on  the  head  will  prevent  the 
effective  use  of  the  foot,  and  a  severe  blow  on  the  foot 
will  prevent  the  effective  use  of  the  head. 

Similarly,  in  this  great  Machine  of  Civilization,  a 
war  between  any  two  nations  affects  every  other  nation 
in  the  realm  of  civilization,  though  it  may  not  affect 
appreciably  the  savages  of  Australia.  A  strike  in  the 
coal  mines  affects  every  person  in  the  United  States; — 
and  even  a  threat  to  strike  by  the  railway  employees 
affects  not  only  the  whole  United  States,  but,  to  some 
degree,  all  Europe. 

This  brings  us  to  realize  that,  while  the  Machine 
of  Civilization  itself  has  improved  tremendously,  it  is 
only  as  a  machine,  and  only  because  it  is  a  machine.  It 
should  make  us  realize  also  that  the  mere  fact  that  a 
machine  is  good  or  useful  is  no  bar  to  its  being  de- 
stroyed. It  should  make  us  realize  besides  that  the 
finer  a  machine  is  the  greater  danger  there  is  of  its  be- 
ing injured  and  even  destroyed,  by  careless  or  ignorant 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A    NEW    ERA       225 

handling.  These  facts  are  clearly  realized  by  all  engi- 
neering companies  of  all  kinds;  and  the  result  has  been 
that  highly  competent  engineers  have  been  trained  to 
care  for  and  handle  their  engines.  There  are  no  more 
highly  competent  men  in  any  callings  than  are  the  engi- 
neers in  every  civilized  country.  One  might  declare 
without  much  exaggeration  that,  of  all  the  men  in  busi- 
ness or  professions,  the  engineers  are  the  most  compe- 
tent for  their  especial  tasks;  and  the  reasonableness  of 
the  declaration  might  be  pointed  out  on  the  ground  that 
the  very  nature  of  the  engineering  profession  (unlike 
that  of  most  other  professions)  makes  it  impossible  for 
an  engineer  to  be  incompetent,  and  yet  maintain  his 
standing. 

But  the  Machine  of  Civilization  is  composed  not 
only  of  material  parts,  such  as  come  within  the  prov- 
ince of  the  engineer,  but  also  of  immaterial  parts;  in 
fact,  the  principal  parts  are  men,  and  especially  the 
minds  of  men.  It  is  the  office  of  the  Machine  of  Gov- 
ernment to  handle  the  men.  It  is  also  its  office  to 
direct  their  minds;  because  unless  those  minds  view 
things  correctly,  the  Machine  of  Government  cannot 
work  with  smoothness.  Now,  men  are  inferior  to  ma- 
chines in  one  important  way :  —  men,  as  men,  cannot 
be  improved.  It  therefore  devolves  on  Government 
continuously  to  instruct  and  train  men  to  handle  the 
Machine  of  Civilization  skillfully,  because  the  machine 
is  being  made  more  and  more  complicated,  and  more 
and  more  in  need  of  intelligent  care,  with  every  passing 
day. 

Is  this  fact  realized?  I  fear  not.  No  sign  is  visible 
to  the  author  of  these  pages  that  the  people  in  any 
country  realize  or  even  suspect  that  there  is  any  need 
for  looking  out  for  the  integrity  of  the  Machine  as  a 
whole.  The  closest  approximation  to  it  is  a  belated 
realization  that  the  Bolsheviki  are  a  danger  to  "so- 


226  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ciety."  The  people  do  not  seem  even  to  realize  the 
necessity  of  having  competent  experts  at  the  head  of 
governmental  affairs. 

The  Machine  of  Civilization  had  been  developed  to 
a  very  high  stage  when  Trajan  ruled  the  world  about 
the  year  100  A.  D.  For  three-quarters  of  a  century 
afterward,  it  continued  to  run  with  smoothness,  under 
intelligent  care;  but  in  the  year  180  A.  D.  Commodus 
came  to  the  throne,  and  soon  after  began  to  abuse  it. 
For  two  hundred  years  thereafter,  the  Machine  suf- 
fered from  such  abuse  and  neglect,  that  by  the  year 
395,  it  had  become  so  unwieldy,  that  it  was  divided  into 
two  parts,  one  administered  from  Rome  and  the  other 
from  Constantinople.  The  two  parts  soon  became 
two  separate  Machines,  the  Roman  Machine  being  at 
first  the  better,  but  gradually  becoming  more  and  more 
ineffective  under  the  unfavorable  conditions  of  abuse 
and  neglect.  In  476,  the  Roman  Machine  broke  down 
completely,  and  the  barbarian  chief,  Odoacer,  sat  him- 
self on  the  throne  of  Octavius  Cassar. 

A  ruin  more  complete,  it  would  be  hard  to  realize. 
The  vast  structure  of  Roman  civilization,  built  on  the 
civilization  of  Greece  and  Assyria  and  Babylonia  and 
Egypt,  was  hurled  to  the  ground;  and  its  fine  and  beau- 
tiful parts  were  scattered  to  the  winds  by  barbarians 
who  hated  civilization  because  they  were  barbarians. 
The  progress  of  science  and  literature  and  art  stopped. 
The  marvelous  inventions  of  the  past  were  forgotten 
and  disused.  A  condition  of  semi-barbarism  passed 
into  Europe,  and  continued  for  a  period  of  five  hun- 
dred years,  to  which  the  name  Dark  Ages  has  been 
aptly  given.  A  feeble  light  began  to  glow  about  800 
A.  D.  as  a  result  of  the  activities  of  Charlemagne, 
but  it  almost  expired  when  he  did.  It  began  again 
when  the  Crusaders  came  back  from  the  Orient  with 
knowledge  of  the  civilization  that  still  persisted  there ; 


INVENTIONS    CREATE   A   NEW   ERA       227 

and  shortly  after  came  the  first  effort  of  the  Renais- 
sance. Then  followed  the  invention  of  the  gun,  and 
then  the  invention  of  printing: — and  presto — the  mak- 
ing of  another  Machine  of  Civilization  is  begun. 

Now  let  us  realize  three  facts :  one  fact  is  that  the 
Machine  of  Modern  Civilization,  though  bigger  and 
more  complicated  than  the  one  of  Trajan's  time  is  not 
nearly  so  strong;  another  fact  is  that  the  Roman  Ma- 
chine was  destroyed  because  it  had  become  ineffective 
through  carelessness  and  abuse;  the  third  fact  is  that 
because  in  a  measure,  "history  repeats  itself,"  the 
Modern  Machine  may  be  destroyed,  as  the  Roman 
was. 

The  Machine  of  today  is  vastly  weaker  than  Tra- 
jan's. Trajan's  Machine  was  operated  by  a  powerful 
empire  that  controlled  the  whole  world  absolutely.  No 
rival  of  Rome  existed.  The  structure  of  society  was 
simple,  homogeneous  and  strong.  It  was  almost 
wholly  military.  It  rested  on  force;  but  that  force 
rested  on  reason,  moderation,  skill  and  patriotism. 
Rome  had  many  foes ;  but  they  were  so  weak  compared 
with  Rome,  that  she  had  naught  to  fear  from  them — 
so  long  as  she  kept  her  Machine  in  order. 

The  Machine  of  today  is  not  only  more  complicated 
than  that  of  Trajan,  and  therefore  more  liable  to  de- 
rangement from  that  cause  alone — but  it  is  supported 
by  no  government  that  dominates  the  world.  On  the 
contrary,  the  control  is  divided  among  a  number  of 
different  nations  that  have  diverse  interests.  The  in- 
fluence of  this  condition  can  be  clearly  seen  in  the  fact 
that  every  great  war  has  set  back  the  progress  of 
civilization  for  a  while  in  all  civilized  countries,  even 
though  in  some  ways  it  has  advanced  it.  The  World 
War  just  finished,  for  instance,  shook  the  very  founda- 
tions of  society;  and  we  do  not  yet  know  that  it  did  not 
impair  them  seriously.  Certainly  the  Machine  has  not 


228  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

yet  begun  to  run  smoothly  again.  Certainly,  the  Bol- 
sheviki  are  threatening  it  as  seriously  as  the  barbarians 
began  to  threaten  Rome  not  long  after  Trajan's  time. 
The  Romans  did  not  regard  the  barbarians  then  any 
more  seriously  than  we  regard  the  Bolsheviki  now. 

The  barbarians  finally  succeeded  in  destroying  the 
Roman  Machine,  but  not  for  the  reason  that  they  had 
become  any  stronger.  They  had  not  become  any 
stronger,  but  the  Roman  Machine  had  become  weaker. 
It  had  become  weaker  for  the  reason  that  the  men  in 
charge  of  it  had  not  taken  the  proper  care  of  it.  They 
failed  to  take  proper  care  of  it,  for  the  reason  that  they 
were  not  the  proper  kind  of  men  to  have  charge  of 
that  kind  of  machine.  The  reason  for  this  was  that 
the  Roman  people  did  not  see  to  it  that  they  put  the 
proper  kind  of  men  in  charge  of  their  Machine. 

Someone  may  say  that  Rome  was  an  autocracy,  and 
that  there  are  no  autocracies  now.  True,  but  repub- 
lics have  been  inefficient,  just  as  often,  and  in  as  great 
a  degree  as  autocracies  have.  The  United  States  under 
President  Buchanan,  for  instance,  was  excessively  in- 
efficient; while  the  Roman  autocracy  under  Octavius 
was  exceedingly  efficient.  But  whether  a  government 
is  autocratic  or  democratic,  the  degree  of  civilization 
must  depend  in  the  main  on  the  people  themselves. 
Even  the  power  and  genius  of  Charlemagne  could  not 
at  once  make  Europe  civilized ;  and  even  the  power  and 
bestiality  of  Commodus  could  not  at  once  make  Rome 
uncivilized.  In  every  nation,  the  rulers  and  the  peo- 
ple re-act  upon  each  other,  and  each  makes  the  other 
in  a  measure  what  they  are.  A  people  that  are  strong 
and  worthy  will  not  long  be  governed  by  men  who  are 
weak  and  unworthy.  If  a  nation  continues  to  have 
weak  and  unworthy  rulers,  it  is  because  the  people 
themselves  are  weak  and  unworthy. 

Therefore,  it  is  an  insufficient  explanation  of  the 


INVENTIONS    CREATE    A    NEW   ERA       229 

breaking  down  of  the  Roman  Machine  to  declare  that 
the  Roman  emperors  were  what  they  were.  The 
Roman  emperors  reflected  the  Roman  people,  or  they 
would  not  have  remained  Roman  emperors.  If  the 
Roman  people  had  been  as  strong  individually  and  col- 
lectively as  they  were  in  the  days  of  Octavius  and 
Trajan,  no  such  emperors  as  later  sat  on  the  throne 
would  have  been  possible.  But  the  Roman  people 
gradually  deteriorated,  morally,  mentally,  and  even 
physically;  and  inefficient  government  was  one  of  the 
results. 

What  caused  the  deterioration  of  the  Roman  people  ? 
The  same  thing  that  has  caused  the  deterioration  of 
every  other  great  people  that  have  deteriorated — the 
softening  influence  of  wealth  and  ease. 

Thus,  Rome  did  not  fall  because  of  the  barbarians, 
but  because  of  herself.  She  fell  because  her  people 
allowed  the  Machine  which  she  had  built  up,  in  spite 
of  the  barbarians  outside,  at  so  much  cost  of  labor  and 
blood,  to  become  so  weak  that  it  could  no  longer  pro- 
tect itself.  Can  this  happen  to  our  Machine?  Yes, 
and  it  will  happen  as  surely  as  effect  follows  after  cause, 
unless  means  be  taken  to  see  that  men  are  trained  to 
care  for  the  Machine  more  carefully  than  they  are 
trained  now.  In  no  country  is  there  any  serious  effort 
made  to  train  men  to  operate  the  Machine  of  Govern- 
ment, except  those  parts  of  the  Machine  that  are  called 
the  army  and  the  navy: — though  some  tremendous  ef- 
forts are  made  in  private  life  to  train  men  to  handle 
corporations  and  business  enterprises,  and  to  learn  all 
that  can  be  learned  in  medicine,  engineering,  the  Law 
and  all  the  "learned  professions."  And  even  the  ef- 
forts made  to  train  officers  to  handle  armies  and  navies 
are  in  great  part  neutralized  by  placing  men  at  the 
head  of  those  armies  and  navies  who  are  not  trained 
in  the  slightest. 


230  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

The  Roman  Machine  fell  with  a  crash  that  was  pro- 
portional to  the  magnitude  of  the  Machine.  The  Ma- 
chine of  today  is  much  larger  and  heavier  than  the 
Roman.  If  it  falls,  as  it  may,  the  crash  will  be  pro- 
portionally greater.  What  will  follow,  the  mind 
recoils  from  contemplating. 


CHAPTER  X 

CERTAIN    IMPORTANT   CREATIONS    OF    IN- 
VENTION,   AND    THEIR   BENEFICENT 
INFLUENCE 

TN  1843  Charles  Thurber  invented  the  typewriter. 
-*•  Few  inventions  are  more  typical.  In  1843,  the 
conditions  of  life  were  such  that  the  first  stage  in  in- 
venting the  typewriter  must  have  been  the  conception 
of  an  extremely  brilliant  and  original  idea.  After 
that,  the  difficulties  of  embodying  the  idea  in  a  concrete 
form  must  have  been  very  great;  for  it  was  not  until 
about  1875  that  instruments  of  practical  usefulness 
were  in  general  use.  Since  then,  typewriters  have 
penetrated  into  virtually  every  office  in  the  civilized 
world. 

Though  the  typewriter  is  a  very  simple  apparatus 
in  both  principle  and  construction,  yet  few  machines 
stand  out  more  clearly  as  great  inventions.  Few  in- 
ventions also  have  exerted  a  greater  influence — though 
the  influence  of  the  typewriter  has  been  auxiliary,  rather 
than  dominant;  it  has  merely  enabled  a  greater  amount 
of  business  to  be  transacted  than  could  be  transacted 
before.  If  anyone  will  go  into  any  business  office 
whatever,  and  note  the  amount  of  work  performed  in 
that  office  by  means  of  one  typewriter  that  could  not 
be  performed  without  it,  and  will  then  multiply  that 
amount  by  the  number  of  typewriters  in  the  world,  he 
will  come  to  a  confused  but  startling  realization  of 
the  amount  of  executive  work  that  is  being  done  in  a 

231 


232  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

single  day  through  the  agency  of  the  typewriter,  that 
otherwise  would  not  be  done.  If  he  will  then  go  a 
step  further,  and  multiply  the  number  of  days  that 
have  gone  by  since  the  typewriter  was  first  employed, 
by  one-half,  or  even  one-tenth,  of  the  amount  accom- 
plished by  means  of  all  the  typewriters  in  a  single  day, 
he  may  then  be  able  to  appreciate  in  a  measure  the 
enormous  influence  on  progress  which  the  invention  of 
the  typewriter  has  already  had.  One  would  not  make 
an  exaggerated  statement  if  he  should  declare  that  if 
the  typewriter  had  not  been  invented,  every  great  busi- 
ness organization  in  the  world  today  would  be  much 
smaller  than  it  is;  the  great  industries  would  not  exist 
in  their  present  vastness;  and  all  the  arts  of  manu- 
facture, transportation  and  navigation  would  be  far 
behind  the  stage  they  now  have  reached. 

The  electric  telegraph  was  patented  by  Morse  in 
1837,  but  the  first  telegram  was  not  sent  till  1844,  along 
a  wire  stretched  from  Washington  to  Baltimore.  It  is 
said  that  the  first  official  message  was  "What  hath  God 
wrought !"  This  message  shows  a  realization  of  a  fact 
which  some  people  fail  to  realize :  the  people  who  say, 
"God  made  the  country,  but  man  made  the  city."  The 
message  showed  a  realization  that  God  inspires  the 
thoughts  of  men,  as  truly  as  He  provides  them  with 
things  to  eat.  It  is  inconceivable  that  it  was  intended  to 
call  attention  to  the  fact  that  God  wrought  the  wire 
along  which  the  message  ran,  or  the  wooden  poles  that 
carried  the  wire,  or  the  material  zinc  and  copper  of  the 
battery.  The  only  new  thing  evidenced  in  the  telegraph 
so  far  as  anyone  could  know,  was  the  invention  itself. 
God  had  wrought  that  through  the  agency  of  Morse. 
It  is  a  known  fact  that  no  human  mind,  no  matter  how 
fine  it  may  be,  or  how  brilliant  and  correct  its  imagina- 
tion, can  have  any  images  or  ideas  that  are  not  based  in 
some  way  on  the  evidence  of  the  senses.  We  can 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT   CREATIONS       233 

imagine  things,  and  even  create  things,  that  have  never 
existed  before;  but  those  things  must  be  composed  of 
parts  whose  existence  we  know  of  through  the  evidence 
of  our  senses.  So  Morse,  although  he  invented  a  thing 
that  was  wholly  new,  although  he  created  something — 
did  not  create  any  of  the  parts  that  composed  it.  He 
used  such  well-known  things  as  wire,  iron,  zinc  and 
copper.  Even  in  the  creation  of  man,  the  Almighty 
himself  used  common  materials:  "And  the  Lord  God 
formed  man  of  the  dust  of  the  ground,  and  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life:  and  man  became  a 
living  soul."  (Genesis,  Chapter  II.) 

If  the  Lord  God  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into 
Adam,  He  inspired  him  according  to  the  original 
meaning  of  the  word  inspire.  If  He  inspired  Morse 
with  the  conception  of  the  electric  telegraph,  He  in- 
spired him  according  to  the  modern  meaning  of  the 
word,  which  is  not  very  different  from  the  original 
meaning,  and  which  is  not  at  all  different  from  the 
meaning  according  to  which  He  is  said  to  have  inspired 
the  prophets  of  old. 

To  bring  before  us  clearly  the  whole  influence  of 
the  telegraph  on  history  would  require  a  book  devoted 
to  no  other  subject;  yet  the  telegraph  belongs  in  the 
same  class  with  the  typewriter,  in  the  sense  that  its 
main  office  is  to  assist  the  transaction  of  business.  The 
telegraph  does  not  of  itself  produce  results.  It  is  not  in 
the  class  with  the  fist  hammer,  or  the  weaving  machine, 
or  the  gun,  or  the  steam  engine,  or  the  electric  light, 
or  chloroform,  or  the  telescope,  or  the  discovery  of 
America.  It  owes  its  reputation  largely  to  the  spec- 
tacular way  in  which  it  first  appeared,  and  to  the  seem- 
ing wonderfulness  of  its  success.  Yet  the  telegraph 
seems  no  more  wonderful  than  the  typewriter,  to  a 
person  who  knows  even  a  little  of  electricity;  and  the 
task  of  making  it  practicable  was  much  easier.  A  very 


234  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

simple  and  crude  apparatus  sufficed  for  the  telegraph: 
but  a  highly  perfect  mechanism  was  needed  for  the 
typewriter. 

It  is  probably  true,  however,  that  the  telegraph  has 
had  a  greater  influence  on  history  than  the  typewriter, 
though  modern  civilization  would  not  be  even  approxi- 
mately what  it  is,  if  either  had  not  been  invented.  And 
if  by  any  combination  of  circumstances,  either  one 
should  now  be  taken  from  us,  the  whole  Machine  would 
be  thrown  into  inextricable  confusion. 

It  may  be  objected  that  if  Morse  had  not  invented 
the  telegraph,  or  if  any  inventor  whoever  had  not  in- 
vented whatever  thing  he  did  invent,  some  other  man 
would  have  done  so;  and  that  therefore  those  inventors 
do  not  deserve  to  be  placed  in  any  especial  niche  of 
honor.  There  would  be  considerable  reasonableness 
in  such  an  objection,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that 
in  many  cases  two  or  more  men  have  invented  the  same 
thing  at  about  the  same  time.  It  may  be  pointed  out, 
however,  that  while  this  has  often  happened  in  regard 
to  improvements  on  basic  inventions,  it  has  not  hap- 
pened very  often  in  regard  to  the  basic  inventions  them- 
selves; and  also  that,  even  if  we  include  all  the  inven- 
tors the  world  has  ever  heard  of,  we  find  that  there 
have  been  surprisingly  few.  Therefore,  it  really  makes 
little  difference  to  the  race  as  a  whole  whether  Smith 
or  Jones  made  a  certain  invention,  or  whether  Smith 
would  have  made  it,  if  Jones  had  not  made  it.  uThe 
man  who  delivers  the  goods,"  receives,  and  as  a  rule 
deservedly,  the  recognition  of  mankind.  Furthermore, 
this  book,  as  has  been  stated,  is  not  concerned  mainly 
with  inventors,  but  with  inventions. 

In  1844,  the  use  of  nitrous  oxide  gas  (laughing  gas) 
as  an  anaesthetic  was  introduced  by  Dr.  Wells.  It 
cannot  be  said  that  this  invention  has  had  any  direct 
influence  on  history  itself,  though  it  has  had  a  great 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT.  CREATIONS       235 

deal  of  influence  on  the  history  of  some  individuals. 
It  contributed  a  new  and  distinct  part  to  the  Machine, 
however,  and  certainly  helped  to  ameliorate  the  con- 
ditions of  living.  Besides,  it  seems  to  be  one  of  the 
lessons  of  history  that  most  new  and  distinct  creations, 
even  if  no  use  has  been  found  for  them  for  a  long 
while,  have  ultimately  found  a  field  of  usefulness. 
Furthermore,  every  new  and  useful  thing,  like  nitrous 
oxide  gas,  attracts  the  attention  of  men  to  the  advan- 
tages that  the  study  of  physical  sciences  and  the  prose- 
cution of  invention  offer,  and  gives  inspiration  for 
further  study  and  endeavor. 

In  the  same  year,  Leon  Foucault  invented  the  first 
practical  electric  arc-light.  Davy  had  made  the  basic 
invention  of  the  Voltaic  arc  in  1808;  but  his  invention 
was  in  the  class  just  spoken  of,  in  that  it  was  not  utilized 
for  many  years.  Even  the  arc-light  that  Foucault 
produced  in  1844  was  not  utilized  then.  In  both 
cases,  the  cause  of  slowness  of  utilization  did  not  rest 
so  much  in  the  invention  as  in  the  stage  of  civilization 
at  the  time.  The  world  was  not  yet  ready  for  the  arc- 
light.  In  fact,  it  did  not  become  ready,  and  it  could 
not  become  ready,  to  use  the  arc-light  in  real  service, 
until  a  cheaper  means  of  producing  electric  current  had 
been  invented.  This  did  not  happen  until  the  dynamo- 
electric  machine  had  been  invented  and  had  been 
brought  to  such  a  point  of  practical  development  that 
it  could  supply  electric  current,  not  only  adequately 
and  economically,  but  reliably.  A  necessary  step  to- 
ward the  utilization  of  the  arc-light  was  made  in  1845, 
however,  by  Thomas  Wright,  who  invented  a  means 
whereby  the  carbons  could  be  kept  automatically  at 
the  correct  distance  apart  for  maintaining  a  continuous 
and  uniform  light. 

In  1845,  Robert  Hoe  made  an  important  contribu- 
tion in  his  double-cylinder  printing  press.  In  the  same 


236  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

year,  R.  W.  Thompson  invented  the  pneumatic  tire. 
This  invention  belongs  distinctly  in  the  class  just  spoken 
of,  for  the  pneumatic  tire  did  not  come  into  general 
use  until  the  bicycle  did,  about  1890.  It  may  be  asked 
if  there  is  any  use.  in  inventing  appliances  long  before 
they  are  needed.  So  far  as  the  inventor  is  then  con- 
cerned— no:  so  far  as  the  public  is  eventually  con- 
cerned, yes.  All  inventions  made  and  patented  are 
described  and  illustrated  in  the  Patent  Office  Gazette; 
and  many  of  them  are  described  and  illustrated  in  mag- 
azines and  newspapers,  even  if  they  are  not  used  in 
actual  practice.  These  records  form  part  of  the  gen- 
eral knowledge  of  mankind,  just  as  much  as  do  the  facts 
of  geography  and  history  and  arithmetic;  and  they  can 
be  drawn  upon  by  investigators  and  inventors,  and 
made  to  assist  them  in  their  work. 

In  1846,  an  invention  was  made  by  Elias  Howe,  that 
does  not  belong  at  all  in  the  same  category  as  that  of 
the  pneumatic  tire,  because  it  was  utilized  almost  im- 
mediately. This  is  usually  spoken  of  as  the  sewing- 
machine;  but  the  essence  of  the  invention  was  not  a 
machine,  but  merely  an  instrument;  for  it  consisted  of 
a  needle  in  which  the  eye  was  near  the  point,  instead 
of  at  the  other  end,  as  in  existing  needles.  The  ma- 
chine afterwards  produced  was  merely  an  obvious 
means  for  using  the  new  kind  of  needle. 

The  invention  of  the  sewing-machine  was  one  rich 
in  influence  on  subsequent  progress;  and  all  the  story 
connected  with  it  is  interesting  in  many  ways.  But  the 
most  wonderful  fact  connected  with  the  invention  is 
that  it  was  not  made  before !  Many  inventions  have 
not  been  made  because  the  conditions  at  the  time  did 
not  demand  them,  or  make  their  successful  utilization 
possible :  and  yet  some  inventions,  like  the  Voltaic  arc, 
were  made  despite  the  unfavorable  conditions.  But 
what  conditions  were  unfavorable  to  the  utilization  of 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       237 

Howe's  sewing-machine,  even  as  far  back  in  history 
as  the  days  when  the  pyramids  were  built?  The  Howe 
sewing-machine  was  not  so  complicated  an  apparatus 
as  the  ballista,  or  the  chariot,  used  by  the  Assyrians 
and  the  other  nations  in  the  "fertile  crescent,"  that 
curved  from  Alexandria  to  Babylon;  and  it  was  much 
easier  and  cheaper  to  make.  Its  construction  required 
immeasurably  less  scientific  knowledge  and  carefulness 
than  the  printing  press,  the  gun,  the  telescope  and  the 
microscope,  and  a  score  of  appliances  that  had  pre- 
ceded it  by  several  centuries.  Why  was  the  sewing- 
machine  not  invented  before?  Why,  why?  This 
question  continually  presents  itself  to  the  mind,  when 
certain  simple  inventions  appear,  that  (so  far  as  we  can 
see)  could  have  been  invented  and  ought  to  have  been 
invented,  long  before. 

In  1846,  the  printing-telegraph  was  invented  by 
House.  No  such  question  as  that  just  discussed  is 
presented  to  our  minds  by  this  invention,  because  we 
realize  that  it  could  not  have  been  invented  before 
some  means  of  generating  continuous  electric  currents 
had  been  invented.  The  printing-telegraph  was  not 
an  invention  of  the  same  order  of  influence  as  the 
sewing-machine;  but  it  has  assisted  the  work  of  the 
telegraph  in  supplying  news,  especially  in  reports  of 
stock  fluctuations. 

In  the  same  year,  De  Lesseps  started  his  project  of 
building  the  Suez  Canal,  and  joining  the  Mediterranean 
to  the  Red  Sea;  so  that  ships  could  proceed  to  India 
from  Europe  by  a  direct  route.  Many  centuries  be- 
fore, a  canal  had  been  cut  and  generally  used  that  ran 
from  the  Nile  River  to  the  Red  Sea.  The  canal  that 
De  Lesseps  proposed  was  to  be  larger,  and  the  engi- 
neering difficulties  greater.  The  vast  enterprise  was 
finally  carried  out,  at  a  cost  of  about  $100,000,000. 
It  seems  to  have  passed  through  the  three  successive 


238  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

stages  of  conception,  development  and  production. 
The  idea  of  building  a  canal  did  not  originate  in  1846, 
or  in  the  brain  of  De  Lesseps;  for  the  idea  was  very 
old,  probably  older  than  recorded  history.  But  the 
only  man  who  formed  the  mental  picture  in  his  mind 
and  afterwards  developed  it  into  a  concrete  plan  was 
De  Lesseps.  He  did  this;  and  his  plan  was  so  com- 
plete and  coherent,  and  so  evidently  practical,  that  he 
finally  succeeded  in  convincing  engineers  and  capitalists 
of  the  fact,  and  forming  a  large  company.  The  exe- 
cution of  the  concrete  plan  was  not  begun  until  1859, 
and  it  was  De  Lesseps  who  began  it.  Thus  De  Lesseps, 
though  he  did  not  conceive  the  basic  idea,  conceived 
and  combined  the  various  ideas  necessary  to  embody 
the  basic  idea  in  a  concrete  plan,  then  constructed  the 
concrete  plan,  and  then  produced  the  actual  instrument. 

This  instrument  (the  canal)  was  a  very  useful  in- 
strument. An  instrument,  according  to  the  Standard 
Dictionary,  is  "a  means  by  which  work  is  done."  By 
means  of  the  Suez  Canal,  the  work  of  direct  water 
transportation  between  the  Far  East  and  Europe  was 
done ;  and  it  could  not  have  been  done,  except  by  means 
of  that  instrument.  It  has  been  done  by  that  instru- 
ment ever  since,  and  at  an  increasing  rate.  The  canal 
was  completed  in  1869,  and  widened  and  deepened  in 
1886.  It  has  shortened  the  water  distance  between 
England  and  India  by  about  7600  miles,  and  has  had 
a  tremendous  influence  on  history,  especially  on  Great 
Britain's  history.  One  of  the  largest  stockholders  is 
the  British  Government;  three-fourths  of  the  ships 
passing  through  it  have  been  British;  and  though  the 
whole  world  has  benefited,  the  greatest  single,  bene- 
ficiary has  been  Great  Britain. 

Yet  De  Lesseps  was  a  Frenchman !  This  calls  to 
our  minds  the  fact  that  although  some  of  the  greatest 
names  in  History  are  French,  yet  the  French  nation,  as 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       239 

a  nation,  has  never  shown  the  same  concerted  national 
purpose  as  the  British.  In  this  respect,  the  French 
seem  to  have  borne  somewhat  the  same  relation  to  the 
British,  as  the  Greeks  did  to  the  Romans :  and  yet  the 
French  are  more  nearly  allied  by  blood  and  language 
to  the  Romans  than  are  the  British.  The  Greeks  and 
the  French  aimed  to  make  life  pleasant,  by  the  aid  of 
the  fine  arts  and  a  general  utilization  of  all  that  is 
delightful;  while  the  Romans  and  the  British,  early  in 
their  careers,  conceived  the  idea  of  dominion,  embodied 
the  idea  in  a  concrete  plan,  and  proceeded  to  carry  the 
plan  into  execution.  The  plan  was  continually  accom- 
modated to  the  changing  conditions  of  the  times,  and 
the  means  of  execution  were  continually  accommodated 
also.  The  result  has  been  that  Greece  and  France 
never,  as  nations,  acquired  dominion  even  approximate- 
ly; while  Rome  did  completely,  and  Great  Britain  did, 
approximately. 

The  author  does  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  ap- 
proving of  the  idea  of  acquiring  dominion,  or  as  failing 
to  realize  the  sordidness  of  such  an  ambition,  and  the 
evil  that  men  and  nations  have  done,  in  order  to  achieve 
it.  He  begs  leave  to  point  out,  however,  that  the  Ma- 
chine could  not  have  been  built,  except  under  the  stable 
conditions  that  large  nations  permit  better  than  small 
nations  do ;  and  that  it  has  been  the  endeavor  to  achieve 
dominion  by  aspiring  tribes  and  nations,  and  the  conse- 
quent endeavor  to  gain  strength  in  order  to  prevent  it, 
by  other  aspiring  tribes  and  nations,  which  have  caused 
the  gradual  building  up  of  the  great  nations  of  today, 
with  the  comfort,  security  and  culture  that  their  exist- 
ence permits. 

In  the  same  year,  1846,  artificial  limbs  were  in- 
vented, and  so  was  the  electric  cautery.  Neither  of 
these  inventions  had  a  profound  influence;  but  each  was 
a  new  creation,  and  each  formed  a  useful  and  distinct 


240  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

addition  to  the  Machine.     But  another  invention  was 
made  in  1846,  that  has  had  great  influence. 

This  was  the  invention  of  gun-cotton,  made  by 
Schonbein  in  Germany  by  the  action  of  nitric  and  sul- 
phuric acids  on  cotton,  or  some  other  form  of  cellulose. 
It  was  the  first  practical  explosive  that  depended  for 
its  usefulness  on  the  decomposition  of  a  chemical  com- 
pound, and  not  on  the  combustion  of  a  mechanical 
mixture,  like  gunpowder.  The  explosive  power  of 
gun-cotton  was  declared  by  the  chemist  Abel  to  be  fifty 
times  that  of  an  equal  weight  of  the  gunpowder  of  that 
day;  but  this  does  not  mean  that  it  possessed  fifty  times 
the  energy.  The  action  of  gun-cotton  is  very  much 
more  sudden  than  that  of  gunpowder;  and  for  that 
reason,  it  exerts  a  much  greater  force  for  an  instant, 
and  has  much  greater  efficacy  for  such  purposes  as 
breaking  into  structures,  bursting  shells,  etc.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  very  fact  that  its  energy  is  developed 
with  such  suddenness,  causes  its  force  to  fall  to  zero 
very  soon,  and  makes  it  useless  for  such  purposes  as 
gunpowder  fulfils  in  firing  projectiles  from  guns.  In 
a  gun,  especially  in  a  long  gun,  the  endeavor  is  made 
to  keep  down  the  pressure  of  the  gas  and  prolong  its 
continuance;  so  that  the  projectile  will  receive  a  com- 
paratively gentle  but  prolonged  push,  that  will  start  it 
gradually  from  its  seat,  and  will  continue  to  push  it, 
and  therefore  to  increase  its  velocity,  all  the  way  to  the 
muzzle. 

Gun-cotton  does  not  belong  in  the  class  with  the 
typewriter  and  the  telegraph,  that  merely  assist  men 
to  transact  business :  gun-cotton  transacts  business  "on 
its  own  account."  Gun-cotton  belongs  in  the  class  with 
the  gun;  and  its  main  influence  has  been  to  increase  the 
self-protectivity  of  the  Machine.  It  has  done  this 
mainly  by  increasing  the  power  of  the  submarine  tor- 
pedo against  the  hulls  of  warships.  It  may  be  objected 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT   CREATIONS       241 

that  both  sides  in  a  war  between  civilized  nations  would 
use  torpedoes,  that  no  persons  except  organizations 
controlled  by  civilized  nations  (such  as  those  in  war- 
ships) would  use  torpedoes,  and  that  therefore,  what- 
ever effect  the  torpedo  might  have  on  the  Machine  is 
neutralized  by  the  fact  that  two  civilized  bodies  use 
it  against  each  other.  True;  but  the  fact  that  the 
torpedo  and  the  gun-cotton  in  it  require  a  high  degree 
of  civilization  in  the  people  who  use  it,  gives  civilized 
people  an  immediate  and  tremendous  advantage  over 
uncivilized  people;  and  furthermore,  the  fact  that  the 
torpedo  and  the  gun-cotton  in  it  depend  for  their  ulti- 
mate effect  not  only  on  their  being  used,  but  on  the 
degree  of  knowledge  and  skill  with  which  they  are  used, 
gives  an  advantage  to  which  every  nation  in  any  war 
is  willing  and  able  to  utilize  the  most  knowledge  and 
exert  the  most  skill.  That  is,  the  torpedo  and  the  gun- 
cotton  in  it  combine  to  give  the  advantage  to  the  nations 
possessing  the  highest  degree  of  civilization  and  will- 
power. They  enable  the  Machine  of  the  most  highly 
civilized  nation  to  protect  itself  if  it  will  against  the 
Machines  of  less  highly  civilized  nations. 

In  the  year  following  the  invention  of  gun-cotton, 
came  Sobrero's  invention  of  nitro-glycerin,  made  by 
the  action  of  nitric  acid  on  glycerin  (1847).  The 
new  explosive  was  more  powerful  than  gun-cotton,  but 
much  more  dangerous  to  handle.  By  reason  of  its 
extreme  sensitiveness  and  the  consequent  danger  of 
handling  it,  the  use  of  pure  nitro-glycerin  has  never 
been  great. 

In  the  same  year,  1847,  the  time-lock  was  invented 
by  Savage.  This  invention  was  in  the  class  with  the 
gun  and  gun-cotton,  in  the  sense  that  it  enhanced  the 
self-protectiveness  of  the  Machine.  It  did  not  enhance 
its  self-protectiveness  against  a  few  great,  open,  ex- 
ternal foes,  however,  but  against  a  myriad  of  small, 


242  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

secret,  internal  foes.  The  Machine  is  very  expensive 
to  maintain  in  operation,  and  so  is  every  one  of  the 
little  mechanisms  of  which  it  is  composed.  And  each 
one  of  these  little  mechanisms,  each  bank,  its  business 
corporation,  each  company,  each  department  store, 
each  little  shop,  requires  that  its  money  be  kept  safe 
from  the  burglar  and  the  pilferer.  Inasmuch  as  the 
time-lock  assists  in  doing  this,  the  time-lock  has  been 
a  valuable  contribution  to  the  Machine,  and  has  exerted 
a  good  influence  on  history  since  it  was  invented. 

In  the  same  year,  1847,  R.  M.  Hoe  invented  his 
great  printing  press,  that  could  make  20,000  impres- 
sions per  hour.  As  it  was  a  long  step  forward  in  the 
improvement  of  printing,  this  invention  deserved  the 
applause  which  it  received;  and  the  inventor  deserved 
the  financial  reward  which  he  received. 

In  1848,  Dennison  invented  a  machine  for  making 
matches.  This  was  a  most  useful  contribution;  but 
one  is  inclined  to  wonder  why  twenty  years  elapsed 
between  the  invention  of  matches  and  the  invention  of 
a  machine  for  making  them.  Inventing  was  not  going 
ahead  so  fast  then  as  it  is  now.  Surely,  no  such 
interval  is  allowed  to  pass  unutilized,  in  the  present 
inventing  days. 

In  1849,  the  "interrupted, thread"  screw,  for  use  in 
closing  the  breeches  of  guns  was  invented.  Many  men 
have  claimed  the  honor  of  this  invention.  Regardless 
of  who  the  particular  inventor  was,  the  invention  itself 
must  be  regarded  as  one  of  a  very  high  order,  from  the 
standpoints  of  originality,  constructiveness  and  useful- 
ness. Though  the  screw  itself  was  a  very  old  con- 
trivance, the  idea  of  cutting  a  long  slot  lengthwise,  so 
that  the  screw  could  be  pushed  forward  quickly  without 
the  slow  process  of  continuously  turning  it  around,  yet 
so  arranged  that  the  screw  could  be  turned  when  near 
the  end  of  its  travel,  and  the  force-gaining  power  of 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       243 

the  screw-thread  thus  secured,  seems  to  have  been  en- 
tirely new.  Certainly  the  idea  was  original  and  bril- 
liant and  useful.  To  develop  the  idea  into  a  concrete 
plan  was  not  difficult,  and  neither  was  it  difficult  to 
carry  the  concrete  plan  into  execution.  This  invention 
falls  into  the  happy  class  of  which  the  stethoscope  is 
typical,  in  which  the  idea  originally  conceived  was  so 
perfect,  that  little  else  was  needed.  The  main  use  of 
this  invention  has  been  that  for  which  it  was  first  in- 
tended, to  close  the  breeches  of  guns.  It  is  used  in 
most  of  the  navies  and  armies.  Its  principal  rival  is 
the  famous  sliding  breech-block  of  Krupp. 

In  1849,  came  an  invention  in  the  gun  class,  the 
magazine  gun,  made  by  Walter  Hunt.  This  invention 
also  seems  to  fulfil  all  the  requirements  of  a  real  in- 
vention, in  originality  of  conception,  constructiveness 
of  development  and  ultimate  usefulness.  But  in  this 
case,  the  original  idea  can  hardly  be  declared  as  bril- 
liant and  spectacular  as  that  of  the  "interrupted 
thread" ;  and  certainly  the  labor  of  developing  it  was 
incomparably  greater.  The  author  feels  the  tempta- 
tion of  declaring  that  the  more  brilliant  and  valuable 
a  conception  is,  the  less  will  be  the  difficulty  of  develop- 
ing it.  He  refuses  to  declare  it,  however,  realizing 
that  it  would  not  be  wholly  true ;  and  yet  he  wishes  to 
point  out  that  if  a  conception  be  wholly  erroneous,  it 
cannot  be  developed  into  any  concrete  plan  whatever; 
and  that  many  of  the  most  brilliant  conceptions,  such 
as  the  fist-hammer,  the  flute,  the  telescope,  the  tele- 
graph and  the  telephone  were  very  easily  developed 
into  forms  sufficiently  concrete  to  make  them  practically 
usable.  An  idea  itself  is  an  extremely  simple  thing, 
even  if  it  be  developed  ultimately  into  a  highly  com- 
plex machine.  The  idea  of  the  steam  engine,  for 
instance,  the  idea  which  Hero  conceived  was,  of  itself, 
extremely  simple ;  but  see  into  what  complex  forms  it 


244  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

has  been  developed!  The  original  idea  of  Hero  was 
easily  developed  into  "Hero's  engine."  The  im- 
provements that  have  been  made  upon  it  have  been  the 
developments  of  separate  ideas  that  were  conceived 
later.  Not  one  of  these  ideas  has  been  nearly  so  bril- 
liant as  Hero's,  and  few  of  them  have  been  so  easily 
developed. 

In  1849,  Bourdon  invented  the  steam  pressure  gauge 
that  still  bears  his  name,  and  made  a  contribution  of 
distinct  and  permanent  value,  by  which  ability  to  keep 
track  of  the  steam  pressure  in  boilers  was  increased, 
and  safety  from  explosion  increased  proportionately. 
In  the  same  year,  Sir  David  Brewster  invented  his 
lenticular  stereoscope.  In  this  beautiful  instrument  two 
separate  pictures  of  the  same  object  are  put  on  one 
card,  one  picture  showing  the  object  as  it  would  look 
to  the  left  eye  from  a  given  distance,  and  the  other 
picture  showing  the  object  as  it  would  look  to  the  right 
eye.  The  two  eyes  of  an  observer  look  at  the  two 
pictures  through  the  two  halves  of  two  convex  lenses, 
that  are  so  shaped  that  the  two  pictures  are  seen  as  one 
picture,  but  so  superposed  as  to  represent  the  object  in 
relief,  as  the  actual  object  appears  to  the  two  eyes. 
Like  the  kaleidoscope,  this  later  product  of  Sir  David 
Brewster's  brilliant  imagination  has  had  little  influence 
thus  far,  except  possibly  to  lead  the  way  toward  stereo- 
photography  and  the  stereopticon :  but  it  seems  hardly 
probable  that  an  important  field  will  not  be  found  some 
day  for  an  invention  so  suggestive. 

In  the  same  year,  Hibbert  made  an  important  im- 
provement on  the  knitting  machine,  and  Corliss  in- 
vented his  famous  engine  cut-off,  which  vastly  econo- 
mized fuel.  Neither  invention  was  especially  novel 
or  brilliant,  but  both  were  highly  practical  and 
useful  contributions  to  the  improvement  of  the  Ma- 
chine. In  the  same  year  also  came  Worm's  improve- 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       245 

ment  on  the  printing  press,  that  concerned  the  making 
of  "turtles"  which  held  type  in  a  curved  shape,  so  that 
they  could  be  secured  to  the  cylinder  of  the  press. 

In  1850,  Scott  Archer  succeeded  in  using  collodion 
to  fix  silver  salts  on  the  surface  of  glass  plates  in 
photography.  He  cannot  be  credited  with  the  basic 
invention,  because  the  idea  of  doing  this  had  been  sug- 
gested long  before.  The  invention  made  an  important 
contribution  to  the  growing  art  of  photography,  mainly 
by  supplying  a  stepping  stone  for  further  advances.  In 
the  same  year,  an  important  improvement  was  made  in 
watch-making  by  inventing  a  watch-making  machine. 
This  was  one  of  the  first  of  those  distinctly  American 
inventions,  by  which  machine-work  replaced  hand-work, 
with  great  increase  in  speed  of  production  and  lessening 
of  cost,  but  without  decrease  in  accuracy  of  work- 
manship. 

The  influence  of  this  invention  has  escaped  the  notice 
of  many  of  us,  for  the  reason  that  it  has  spread  so 
gradually,  and  has  been  of  such  a  character  as  to  fail 
to  strike  the  imagination  from  its  lack  of  spectacularity. 
But  the  idea  of  what  we  now  call  "quantity  production" 
has  spread  to  all  the  fields  of  the  manufacturing  world, 
and  is  the  basis  of  much  of  the  enormous  industrial 
progress  of  the  last  half  century.  It  is  rendered  pos- 
sible mainly  by  making  the  machinery  automatic,  or 
nearly  so.  Without  such  exaggeration,  America  may 
justly  claim  the  contribution  of  automaticity  to  the 
Machine  of  Civilization. 

In  1851,  Dr.  Charles  G.  Page  produced  the  first 
electric  locomotive.  Like  many  pioneers,  it  did  not 
achieve  practical  success  itself,  but  it  supplied  a  step- 
ping stone  to  further  progress.  In  the  same  year, 
Seymour  produced  his  self-rakers  for  harvesters,  and 
Gorrie  invented  the  ice-making  machine.  Two  more  im- 
portant inventions  were  the  ophthalmoscope,  invented 


246  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

by  Helmholtz,  and  the  "Ruhmkorff  coil/'  invented  by 
the  man  whose  name  still  clings  to  it. 

The  ophthalmoscope  reminds  one  of  the  stethoscope; 
so  simple  it  is,  so  perfect  and  so  useful.  It  consists 
merely  of  a  small  concave  mirror  with  a  hole  in  it,  a 
lamp  and  a  small  convex  lens :  the  mirror  being  held  so 
that  one  eye  of  a  physician  can  look  through  it,  and  the 
lens  being  placed  conveniently  by  the  physician  near 
the  eye  of  a  patient.  The  mirror  reflects  light  from 
the  lamp  towards  the  patient's  eye,  and  the  convex  lens 
concentrates  them  on  whatever  is  to  be  examined — 
usually  the  interior  of  an  eye.  This  instrument  belongs 
in  the  small  class  of  inventions  already  spoken  of,  in 
which  the  original  conception  was  so  perfect,  that  the 
acts  of  developing  it  into  a  concrete  instrument  and 
then  producing  the  instrument  were  easily  performed. 

The  Ruhmkorff  coil  is  in  the  same  class;  for  it  con- 
sists merely  of  two  coils  of  wire;  one  "primary"  coil 
being  of  coarse  wire  and  connected  with  a  source  of 
electric  current,  and  the  other  "secondary"  coil  of  fine 
wire  placed  around  the  coil  of  coarse  wire.  If  the 
current  in  the  primary  coil  be  made  or  broken  or 
changed  in  force  or  direction,  currents  are  "induced" 
in  the  secondary  coil;  the  strength  of  the  two  currents 
varying  relatively  according  to  the  sizes  and  lengths  of 
the  wires  in  the  two  coils.  This  invention  has  an  inter- 
est apart  from  its  usefulness,  in  the  fact  that  Ruhmkorff 
invented  it  for  purposes  of  scientific  study,  and  that  no 
utilization  of  it  for  everyday  life  occurred  until  nearly 
half  a  century  later.  Then  Ruhmkorff  coils  were  made 
into  "transformers"  for  use  in  "stepping  down"  the 
small  high  voltage  currents  needed  for  transmitting 
electric  currents  over  long  distances,  into  the  larger  but 
lower  voltage  currents  needed  for  actuating  electric 
lights  and  motors. 

In  the  following  year,  1852,  Channing  and  Farmer 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       247 

invented  the  fire-alarm  telegraph,  an  important  con- 
tribution to  the  safety  of  the  Machine,  though  it  did 
not  come  into  general  use  for  several  years.  In  the 
same  year,  Fox  Talbot  made  another  of  his  epochal 
contributions  to  photography,  by  inventing  a  process 
by  which  photographic  half-tones  could  be  produced. 
In  the  following  year,  a  process  was  invented  for  mak- 
ing from  wood  a  pulp  that  was  very  valuable  as  the 
basis  of  making  paper, — and  Faraday  made  three  im- 
portant discoveries.  These  were  the  laws  of  electro- 
magnetic induction,  the  relations  of  the  dielectric  to  the 
conducting  bodies  in  electro-static  induction,  and  the 
laws  of  electrolysis. 

These  discoveries  of  Faraday  were  all  inventions, 
in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  invention  is  used  in  this 
book.  Each  one  was  the  outcome  of  a  series  of  care- 
ful and  mathematically  guided  experiments,  and  the 
outgrowth  of  an  idea.  In  the  following  year,  Mel- 
huish  invented  photographic  roll  films,  and  Herman 
invented  the  rock  drill.  The  latter  invention  has  been 
of  the  utmost  practical  value  in  blasting  operations  of 
all  kinds,  and  must  be  regarded  as  a  very  distinct  addi- 
tion to  the  Machine. 

In  the  same  year,  appeared  the  Smith  &  Wesson 
revolver;  not  a  great  invention,  but  an  improvement 
in  many  ways  over  Colt's;  Mr.  A.  B.  Wilson  brought 
out  his  four-motion  feed  for  sewing-machines,  and 
R.  A.  Tilghman  invented  his  process  for  decomposing 
fats  by  hot  steam.  In  the  following  year  (1855), 
Lundstrom  made  the  highly  important  invention  of 
safety  matches.  When  one  reflects  (as  every  one  must 
at  times)  how  great  and  absolutely  irretrievable  are 
the  losses  caused  by  fire  each  year,  how  the  amount  of 
possible  destruction  grows  each  year  exactly  as  fast 
as  the  Machine  grows,  and  realizes  how  large  a  fire 


248  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

many  a  small  match  has  caused,  he  feels  inclined  to 
give  a  mental  salute  to  Mr.  Lundstrom  of  Sweden. 

In  the  same  year,  iron-clad  floating  batteries  were 
used  in  the  Crimean  War.  This  was  not  the  first  time 
that  iron-clad  vessels  had  been  employed,  for  vessels 
protected  on  the  sides  with  sheets  of  iron  and  copper 
had  been  used  by  the  Coreans  in  their  victorious  war 
against  the  Japanese  about  three  hundred  years  before; 
but  it  was  the  first  time  that  such  vessels  had  appeared 
in  Europe.  Cocaine  was  invented  the  same  year,  and 
one  of  the  most  valuable  anaesthetics  yet  known  was 
then  produced. 

But  the  most  valuable  contribution  to  the  Machine 
in  1855  was  Henry  Bessemer's  epochal  invention  of 
making  steel  by  blowing  air  through  molten  cast  iron, 
until  enough  of  the  carbon  had  been  burnt  off  to  leave 
a  steel  of  whatever  quality  was  desired.  This  inven- 
tion reduced  the  cost  of  making  steel,  and  the  time 
required,  in  so  great  a  degree  as  to  place  the  manufac- 
ture of  steel  on  a  basis  entirely  new,  and  to  extend  its 
field  of  'employment  greatly.  And,  as  with  many 
previous  great  inventions,  this  one  paved  the  way  for 
still  other  inventions,  by  indicating  the  possibility  of 
still  wider  fields.  The  Bessemer  process  is  not  in  the 
class  with  the  typewriter  or  the  telegraph,  but  in  the 
class  with  the  gun;  for  it  does  things  itself.  It  would 
be  difficult  to  specify  any  invention  (except  one  pro- 
duced at  a  much  earlier  time)  that  has  had  more  in- 
fluence, and  more  good  influence,  on  history  than 
Bessemer's.  No  one  can  look  out  of  his  window  in  any 
town  or  city,  without  seeing  some  of  the  innumerable 
products  of  Bessemer's  idea. 

Our  record  has  now  brought  us  to  the  middle  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  conditions  of  living  in  1850 
were  greatly  different  from  those  of  1800.  In  fifty 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       249 

years,  the  physical  conditions  of  living  and  of  carrying 
on  business  of  all  kinds,  had  improved  more  than  in 
the  century  between  1700  and  1800,  more  than  in  the 
two  centuries  preceding  1700,  and  more  than  in  the 
ten  centuries  from  500  and  1500.  Rapid  transporta- 
tion over  the  land  in  railroad  trains  for  both  passengers 
and  freight  had  largely  replaced  the  slow  transporta- 
tion methods  of  1800;  and,  in  an  almost  equal  degree, 
steam  transportation  at  sea  had  replaced  transporta- 
tion by  sails.  The  printing  press  had  been  developed 
from  a  crude  and  slow  contrivance,  worked  by  a  hand, 
to  a  magnificent  mechanism  worked  by  steam :  the  elec- 
tric battery  had  been  improved  into  an  appliance  of 
the  utmost  reliability  and  usefulness;  telegraph  lines 
stretched  over  the  continents,  and  messages  were  sent 
surely  and  instantaneously  over  hundreds  of  miles  of 
land;  and  the  science  of  chemistry  had  arisen  from  the 
ashes  of  alchemy.  As  a  result  of  this,  the  science  of 
photography  had  been  born,  and  had  already  begun 
its  work,  so  varied  and  so  useful.  Physics  had  grown 
so  surely  and  so  greatly,  that  it  had  been  divided  into 
the  separate  but  allied  sciences  of  heat,  light  and  elec- 
tricity— including  magnetism:  the  science  of  engineer- 
ing had  expanded  so  widely,  that  it  also  had  been  di- 
vided into  other  sciences — civil  engineering,  mechan- 
ical engineering,  hydraulic  engineering  and  electrical 
engineering:  the  science  of  medicine,  because  of  the  ad- 
vances in  chemistry  and  physics,  had  advanced  at  an 
equal  rate :  the  gun  had  been  so  greatly  improved,  and 
gunpowder  also,  that  such  a  degree  of  precision  and 
range  had  been  attained  as  to  make  the  gun  of  1800 
seem  crude  indeed;  and  the  improvement  had  been  in- 
evitably caused  by  the  greater  knowledge  placed  at  the 
disposal  of  ordnance  officers,  by  the  advances  in  chem- 
istry, heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism  and  the  various 
engineering  arts.  The  introduction  of  illuminating  gas, 


250  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

the  improvements  in  forging,  casting  and  turning  met- 
als, had  made  possible  the  building  of  edifices,  and  the 
fabrication  of  better  and  cheaper  utensils  of  every 
kind:  improvements  in  the  means  and  methods  of  spin- 
ning, knitting  and  weaving  had  bettered  the  materials 
that  people  wore  upon  their  persons :  improvements  in 
rubber  manufacture  had  made  possible  the  use  of  water- 
proof garments ;  crops  could  be  gathered  more  quickly 
and  surely:  safety  from  fire  had  been  increased:  meth- 
ods of  heating  houses  had  been  vastly  improved:  and 
the  discovery  of  anaesthetics  had  relieved  civilized  man 
in  great  degree  from  his  most  distressing  single  enemy. 
As  a  result,  the  people  of  every  civilized  country  lived 
under  conditions  of  comfort  far  greater  than  had  ever 
been  known  before  in  similar  climates. 

The  facts  and  conditions  detailed  above  relate  al- 
most wholly  to  the  material  conditions  of  living,  and 
show  that,  for  most  people,  they  had  been  enormously 
improved :  though  it  is  noteworthy  that  for  the  very 
poor,  they  had  not  improved  in  many  cases,  and  had 
been  altered  for  the  worse  in  other  cases.  The  un- 
favorable changes  were  mainly  those  produced  by  "fac- 
tory life"  which  in  1850  must  have  been  worse  than 
country  life  for  the  same  class  of  people.  These  cases 
were  so  greatly  in  the  minority,  however,  as  not  to 
affect  the  main  proposition  that  the  advance  in  civiliza- 
tion from  1800  to  1850,  caused  by  new  inventions,  had 
improved  the  material  conditions  of  living  for  the  great 
majority  of  the  people  affected  by  them. 

That  it  was  desirable  that  these  conditions  should  be 
improved,  some  people  may  be  disposed  to  deny;  point- 
ing out  that  the  improvement  tended  to  develop 
"luxury,  thou  cursed  of  Heaven's  decree."  One  of  the 
effects  of  increasing  material  prosperity  is  undoubtedly 
a  tendency  toward  luxury.  But  the  number  of  people 
thus  affected  was  so  very  small  in  the  period  from  1800 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       251 

to  1850,  and  the  degree  of  luxury  attained  then  was  so 
slight,  that  this  question  need  hardly  be  discussed,  at 
this  point. 

But  the  mental  condition  of  the  people  had  changed 
as  greatly  as  the  physical  conditions  of  their  environ- 
ment. The  immediate  cause  of  this  change  was,  of 
course,  the  printing  press,  which  disseminated  the 
thoughts  of  thinking  men  broadcast,  and  told  of  events 
that  were  occurring  not  only  in  places  near,  but  also  in 
places  distant.  This  gave  an  enormous  stimulation 
to  the  minds  of  the  people  by  exciting  their  interest: 
and  it  also  gave  to  their  minds  both  ufood  for  thought" 
and  almost  unlimited  opportunity  for  exercise.  Before 
this  period,  only  a  small  part  of  the  population  had  a 
wide  range  of  knowledge,  or  a  large  number  of  sub- 
jects to  think  about.  Their  lives  were  exceedingly 
monotonous,  and  would  have  been  exceedingly  dull, 
had  it  not  been  for  the  continuous  necessity  of  combat- 
ing the  inconveniences  of  every-day  life  by  continual 
toil  of  one  kind  or  another.  There  were  very  few  sub- 
jects of  conversation. 

But  the  printing-press  told  the  people  of  other  things 
besides  the  events  that  were  taking  place ;  it  told  them 
also  of  new  discoveries  and  inventions  that  were  being 
made,  and  of  the  effects  they  would  produce.  The 
news  of  a  great  discovery  or  invention  must  have  cre- 
ated more  excitement  in  1831  when  the  discovery  of 
chloroform  was  announced,  than  almost  any  discovery 
would  now,  because  we  are  so  accustomed  to  new  dis- 
coveries as  almost  to  be  sated.  We  know  what  excite- 
ment the  first  successful  railway  trips  created.  The  com- 
ing of  these  new  discoveries  and  inventions  gave  mental 
exercise  in  four  ways : — first  by  stimulating  the  imagi- 
nation with  a  picture  it  had  never  seen  before,  and 
whose  possibilities  reached  no  one  could  guess  how  far; 
second  by  stimulating  the  logical  powers  to  reason  out 


252  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

and  understand  the  principles  underlying  each  discovery 
or  invention;  third  by  stimulating  the  memory  to  en- 
grave upon  its  tablets  certain  new  and  important  facts; 
and  fourth,  by  stimulating  the  inventive  faculties,  to 
carry  inventions  further. 

Thus,  the  influence  of  new  inventions  was  to 
change  a  man's  environment,  both  physical  and  men- 
tal. Now  every  man  is  said  to  be  the  product  of  his 
environment  and  his  heredity;  so  that  the  influence  of 
these  new  inventions  was  to  change  men  to  a  degree 
proportional  to  the  degree  by  which  they  changed  their 
environment.  This  does  not  mean  that  inventions  have 
changed  man  biologically,  or  even  changed  him  so  much 
that  he  will  act  very  differently  from  a  savage,  under 
abnormal  conditions.  It  does  mean,  however,  that  they 
have  caused  men  so  to  adapt  themselves  to  the  new 
environment  which  inventions  have  created,  that,  while 
in  that  environment,  they  will  for  all  practical  purposes, 
be  very  different  from  savages.  It  means  that  under 
nearly  all  the  conditions  of  living,  a  gentleman  in  civil- 
ized society  will  be  a  gentleman — courteous,  refined, 
law-abiding  and  moral.  It  does  not  mean  that  he  will 
be  perfect,  but  that  he  will  be  very  much  more  cour- 
teous, refined,  law-abiding  and  moral  than  a  savage; 
and  it  means,  in  consequence  that  the  society  of  civil- 
ized people  in  general  will  possess  these  characteristics 
much  more  than  any  society  of  savages  does. 

Not  only,  however,  have  these  inventions  changed 
the  environment  of  civilized  man,  they  have  changed  his 
heredity  also ;  because  they  had  previously  changed  the 
environment  of  his  parents,  grandparents  and  other  an- 
cestors. The  graduate  of  Oxford  of  1850,  the  son  of 
an  Oxford  graduate  who  was  also  the  son  of  an  Oxford 
graduate,  though  he  was  biologically  the  same  as  his 
barbarian  ancestors  of  ten  thousand  years  before,  was 
nevertheless  a  much  more  refined,  intelligent  and  cour- 


CERTAIN    IMPORTANT    CREATIONS       253 

teous  gentleman.  Under  certain  abnormal  conditions, 
such  as  intense  thirst,  hunger,  jealousy,  passion  or  un- 
looked-for temptation  he  might  act  as  badly  as  a 
savage : — in  fact  such  men  sometimes  do.  But  never- 
theless, the  fact  that  in  99%  of  the  conditions  under 
which  he  lives  he  acts  as  a  gentleman  and  not  as  a 
savage  makes  him  99%  a  gentleman,  and  only  1%  a 
savage,  during  his  mortal  life. 

Thus  inventions,  while  originating  (or  seeming  to 
originate)  in  the  minds  of  men,  change  the  environ- 
ment of  men,  and  this  changes  the  men.  Of  the  two 
changes,  it  would  be  easy  to  say  that  the  change  made 
in  the  men  is  the  more  important ;  but  would  it  be  truth- 
ful to  say  so  ?  We  have  already  noted  the  curious  fact 
that  inventions  have  the  faculty  of  self-improvement  to 
a  degree  far  greater  than  men  have  it;  for  the  reason 
that  each  new  man  must  begin  where  his  last  ancestor 
began,  whereas  each  new  invention  begins  where  his 
last  ancestor  finished.  This  suggests  that  the  changes 
produced  in  environment  are  more  profound  than  the 
changes  produced  in  men;  that  in  fact  the  changes  in 
environment  are  very  profound,  and  the  changes  in 
men  quite  superficial.  That  this  is  really  the  case  is  in- 
dicated by  the  very  long  time  needed  to  build  up  the 
environments  of  civilization,  and  the  very  short  time 
needed  for  men  to  adapt  themselves  to  those  environ- 
ments, or  to  any  changed  conditions.  The  fact  has 
often  been  noted  (sometimes  with  chagrin)  that  highly 
refined  gentlemen  adapt  themselves  with  extreme  facil- 
ity to  the  often  primitive  environments  of  hunting  or 
campaigning,  and  history  shows  in  many  instances  how 
quickly  barbarians  have  adapted  themselves  to  civili- 
zation. 

This  leads  us  to  suspect  that  the  Machine  which  in- 
ventions have  built  up  may  not  be  of  so  much  perma- 


254  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

nence  as  we  are  prone  to  think,  and  makes  us  realize 
that  it  is  not  a  natural  production  but  one  wholly  artifi- 
cial. Now  nothing  that  is  wholly  artificial  can  reason- 
ably be  expected  to  be  permanent,  unless  adequate  and 
timely  measures  are  taken  to  insure  it. 


CHAPTER  XI 

INVENTION   AND   GROWTH    OF   LIBERAL 
GOVERNMENT,   AMERICAN    CIVIL   WAR 

WHILE  the  period  from  1800  to  1850  was  alive 
with  inventions  of  many  sorts,  it  was  alive  also 
with  the  economic  changes  which  the  inventions  caused 
and  with  political  changes  also.  It  was  in  the  United 
States  of  America  that  the  greatest  changes  of  all  kinds 
came.  This  was  to  be  expected  from  the  fact  that  be- 
fore 1800  the  United  States  were  considerably  behind 
the  countries  of  Europe  from  which  their  own  civiliza- 
tion had  been  derived;  whereas  in  1850,  they  had  been 
able  to  get  abreast  of  them,  by  reason  of  the  quickness 
of  transportation  and  communication  that  ocean  steam- 
ers gave,  and  the  energy  and  enterprise  of  the  new 
American  nation.  During  the  period  from  1800  till 
1850,  the  United  States  went  through  three  successful 
wars;  one  with  Great  Britain,  one  with  Algiers  and  one 
with  Mexico.  They  expanded  also  over  a  considerably 
greater  territory,  acquired  a  much  greater  population, 
added  new  states,  and  showed  such  aptitude  in  scientific 
discovery  and  invention  as  to  achieve  a  place  in  the 
first  rank  of  nations  in  this  particular. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  may  be  char- 
acterized as  a  great  invention,  in  the  meaning  of  the 
word  which  is  used  in  this  book;  and  until  1850,  it  had 
worked  with  a  success  that  surprised  many  of  the  states- 
men and  scholars  of  Europe.  The  problems  placed  be- 
fore the  nation  had  been  many,  various  and  difficult; 

255 


256  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

but  all  had  been  solved  with  a  sufficient  degree  of  suc- 
cess for  practical  purposes;  and  the  resulting  situations 
had,  on  the  whole,  been  met  with  courage,  energy  and 
intelligence.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  had  been  treated 
with  respect,  if  not  with  entire  acquiescence;  the  con- 
duct of  the  Navy  in  the  War  of  1812  had  demonstrated 
to  Europe  the  fighting  ability  of  our  people;  our  scien- 
tific men,  such  as  Franklin  and  Henry,  ranked  as  high 
as  any  who  had.  ever  lived  in  any  country;  certain  of 
our  statesmen  such  as  Franklin,  held  equal  rank  with 
statesmen  anywhere;  and  the  invention  and  first  use 
of  the  electric  telegraph  had  put  America  ahead  of 
every  other  country  in  inventions  of  a  basic  kind. 

When  we  realize  the  rapid  growth  of  the  United 
States  in  the  half  century  1800-1850,  and  realize  also 
that  it  was  a  growth  almost  ab  initio,  and  note  that  the 
engineering  materials  of  all  kinds  and  all  the  knowl- 
edge of  science  in  the  country  had  come  from  Europe, 
we  must  admit  that  it  is  to  the  influence  of  invention, 
more  than  to  any  other  one  thing,  that  we  owe  the 
rapid  progress  of  our  country.  As  is  the  case  with  in- 
dividuals, nations  are  prone  to  extol  their  own  succes- 
ses, and  to  take  the  entire  credit  for  them.  Americans 
are  apt  to  thank  themselves  only  for  their  amazing 
progress;  but,  in  fairness,  they  should  admit  that  with- 
out the  inventions  made  in  Europe  and  by  Europeans, 
they  would  have  had  no  means  for  even  starting.  The 
first  locomotive  used  in  the  United  States  was  brought 
from  England. 

In  Great  Britain,  the  wars  with  France  were  under 
full  headway  in  1800,  and  her  statesmen  knew  that  she 
was  faced  with  a  danger  so  great  that  only  the  most 
strenuous  exertions,  and  the  utmost  naval  and  military 
skill  could  overcome  it.  This  danger  was  not  overcome 
till  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  in  1815.  Thereafter,  the 
progress  of  the  nation  was  fairly  quiet  and  assured, 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    257 

the  main  difficulties  centering  in  the  deplorable  con- 
dition of  the  working  classes,  serious  disturbances  in 
Ireland  and  the  mutiny  in  India. 

In  few  matters  has  the  influence  of  invention  been 
greater  than  in  the  relations  between  Great  Britain  and 
India.  In  1564  a  company  called  the  Merchant  Ad- 
venturers had  been  formed  for  competing  with  the 
merchants  of  Spain,  Venice,  Holland  and  other  coun- 
tries. A  company  coming  into  existence  shortly  after- 
ward was  the  East  India  Company,  formed  for  trading 
with  India,  Persia,  Arabia  and  the  islands  in  the  Indian 
Ocean.  The  company  was  chartered  by  the  Crown  and 
had  a  monopoly  of  a  certain  territory.  The  object  was 
that  the  company  should  not  only  make  money  for 
itself,  but  promote  the  welfare  of  Great  Britain  and 
her  subjects,  by  taking  out  manufactured  goods,  and 
bringing  back  raw  materials  and  coin.  During  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  naval  wars  took  place  with  Holland, 
and  in  the  eighteenth  century  with  France;  both  origi- 
nating in  commercial  and  colonial  rivalry — especially 
in  regard  to  India.  Both  wars  were  won  by  Great 
Britain.  The  Seven  Years'  War  in  particular  ended 
to  the  advantage  of  Great  Britain,  as  regards  India; 
for  France  was  left  with  only  a  few  trading  stations. 
By  1773,  the  East  India  Company  was  in  virtual  con- 
trol of  India;  but  in  1784  William  Pitt  secured  politi- 
cal control  of  it  by  the  Government.  Napoleon  real- 
ized the  importance  of  India  and  sent  an  army  there  to 
recover  control,  but  without  success.  The  Crimean 
War  that  began  in  1853  between  Russia  and  Turkey 
was  joined  by  Great  Britain  in  1854  because  she  feared 
that  Russia  would  flank  the  British  route  to  India 
through  the  projected  Suez  Canal.  This  war  ended 
to  the  advantage  of  Great  Britain,  and  the  danger  to 
India  was  removed. 

Now  the  whole   area  of  the  United  Kingdom  of 


258  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Great  Britain  and  Ireland  is  only  about  121,000  square 
miles,  while  that  of  India  is  about  1,803,000,  nearly 
fifteen  times  as  great.  The  population  of  the  United 
Kingdom  in  1917  was  about  45,370,000,  while  that  of 
India  was  about  315,156,000,  or  nearly  seven  times  as 
great.  Yet  Great  Britain  has  secured  the  complete 
mastery  of  India!  How  has  she  been  able  to  do  it? 
The  easiest  answer  would  be  that  the  British  are  a 
"superior"  people.  Even  if  they  are,  such  an  answer 
would  explain  nothing,  unless  the  means  be  indicated 
by  which  the  superiority  was  made  effective  in  conquer- 
ing India.  The  superiority  evidently  did  not  consist  in 
courage  or  physical  strength,  which  were  obvious  fac- 
tors in  achieving  the  victories  in  the  field  that  were 
necessary,  for  those  qualities  were  shown  equally  by  the 
Indians.  But  if  we  should  answer  that  the  British  suc- 
ceeded for  the  reason  that  they  could  bring  to  bear 
superior  weapons,  equipments,  means  of  transportation, 
means  of  communication,  methods  of  organization  and 
methods  of  operation,  we  evidently  would  explain  what 
happened  adequately  and  convincingly  Now  all  these 
facilities  the  British  had  available;  they  had  been  in- 
vented and  were  ready. 

One  of  the  important  influences  of  invention  on 
history  therefore,  has  been  to  give  Great  Britain  con- 
trol of  India. 

In  France,  the  changes  in  economic  and  political  con- 
ditions rivaled  the  changes  that  one  sees  take  place 
in  Sir  David  Brewster's  kaleidoscope.  In  1800  Na- 
poleon had  been  First  Consul,  in  1804  emperor,  in  1814 
an  emperor  and  then  an  exile,  in  1815  an  emperor  and 
then  an  exile.  France  was  a  kingdom  from  then  until 
1848,  and  then  a  republic  till  1852,  when  she  again 
became  an  empire,  under  Napoleon  III.  The  virtual 
anarchy  following  the  Revolution  had  been  crushed 
out  and  replaced  with  order ;  and  the  menace  to  repub- 


GROWTH    OF   LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    259 

Hcan  institutions  had  been  removed  by  the  genius  of 
Napoleon  I,  who  then  established  an  autocracy  of  a 
kind  that,  though  arbitrary,  was  so  wise  and  broad- 
viewed  as  to  be  beneficent  on  the  whole.  The  result  of 
all  was  that  in  1850,  France  was  in  a  condition  of  civili- 
zation and  prosperity  that  was  amazing  to  one  who 
remembered  the  conditions  of  1800. 

When  we  analyze  the  causes  of  the  evolution  of 
order  and  prosperity  out  of  the  conditions  of  1793,  and 
the  later  conditions  of  1800,  we  can  hardly  fail  to 
realize  the  greatest  single  cause  was  the  same  cause  as 
that  of  Napoleon's  victories.  It  was  the  mind  that  con- 
ceived and  developed  and  brought  forth;  the  mind  that 
invented  so  amazingly. 

That  many  other  causes  may  be  named  need  hardly 
be  pointed  out.  In  the  complex  affairs  of  human  life, 
every  result  is  the  resultant  of  many  causes;  but  in  most 
of  those  affairs,  most  of  those  causes  are  always  pres- 
ent ;  so  that  we  have  to  find  an  unusual  cause  to  explain 
an  unusual  condition  or  event.  It  would  be  easy  to  say 
that  the  cause  of  France's  return  to  a  condition  of  law 
and  order  was  that  the  condition  of  anarchy  was  ab- 
normal; and  that  France  simply  returned  to  her  normal 
state,  as  a  wave  does  after  it  has  risen  above  or  fallen 
below  the  level  of  the  sea.  But  would  this  be  true? 
Is  the  condition  of  anarchy  more  abnormal  than  the 
condition  of  law  and  order  ?  Which  was  the  condition 
of  primitive  man?  Which  is  an  artificial  product  of 
man's  invention  ?  Is  it  not  logical  to  conclude  from  the 
record  of  invention's  influence  that  it  was  man's  inven- 
tions that  brought  into  existence  the  artificial  condition 
of  law  and  order  which  existed  in  France  prior  to  1793, 
and  that  it  was  also  man's  inventions  that  restored  it 
afterward?  Three  ideas  were  conceived  in  France  and 
developed  into  the  Revolution:  these  ideas  were  the 
principles  of  equality,  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  people 


260  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

and  of  nationality.  After  the  overthrow  of  Napoleon, 
the  Congress  of  Vienna  met  to  readjust  the  affairs  of 
Europe.  The  Congress  seems  to  have  conceived  the 
idea  of  preventing  the  carrying  out  of  those  principles 
as  their  first  starting  point,  and  to  have  developed  that 
idea  with  fixed  determination.  The  Commissioners 
endeavored  to  restore  everything  to  its  condition  before 
the  Revolution,  and  to  discredit  the  principles  conceived 
and  developed  in  France.  They  succeeded  in  accom- 
plishing their  intent,  so  far  as  remaking  political  boun- 
daries, etc.,  was  concerned;  but  they  did  not  succeed  in 
discrediting  the  principles.  A  great  picture  had  been 
made  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  the  Commissioners  could 
not  wipe  it  out.  As  a  result,  three  revolutions  took 
place  in  1820,  1830  and  1848,  of  which  the  second  was 
more  important  than  the  first,  and  the  third  was  more 
important  than  the  second. 

Shortly  after  the  fall  of  Napoleon,  the  Czar  Alexan- 
der, with  the  emperor  of  Austria  and  the  king  of 
Prussia,  invented  the  Holy  Alliance.  It  was  in  pretense 
an  alliance  to  advance  the  cause  of  religion,  and  to  re- 
duce to  practice  in  political  affairs  the  teachings  of 
Christ;  but  it  was  in  intention  a  league  against  the 
spread  of  the  ideas  embodied  in  the  French  Revolution. 
The  League  was  not  successful  in  the  end,  for  the 
picture  of  liberty  made  in  the  minds  of  men  was  too 
brilliant  and  too  deeply  printed  to  be  wiped  out.  One 
of  the  results  of  the  Holy  Alliance  was  the  invention 
by  the  United  States  of  the  Monroe  Doctrine  which 
was  made  to  prevent  that  intervention  in  affairs  on  the 
American  continent  which  the  proceedings  of  the  Al- 
liance foreshadowed. 

Italy  was  very  harshly  treated  by  the  Congress  of 
Vienna,  two  of  her  largest  provinces  in  the  north  being 
given  to  Austria,  who  forthwith  proceeded  then  to  try 
to  control  the  entire  peninsula.  In  1820,  a  revolution 


GROWTH   OF   LIBERAL  GOVERNMENT    261 

broke  out  in  Italy,  but  it  was  soon  suppressed.  Another 
broke  out  in  1830,  simultaneous  with  that  in  France; 
and  this  was  also  suppressed.  The  third,  in  1848,  met 
a  similar  fate.  But  the  revolutions  in  France  were 
successful;  the  one  of  1848  resulting  in  the  formation 
of  a  republic.  At  the  same  time,  a  sympathetic  revolu- 
tion in  Germany  was  in  a  measure  successful  also. 

In  Germany,  the  formation  of  the  German  Confed- 
eration in  1815  by  the  Congress  of  Vienna  was  the 
formation  of  a  kind  of  political  body  that  has  never 
lasted  long;  for  no  political  body  has  ever  lasted  long, 
except  an  actual  and  definite  nation.  The  various  com- 
ponents of  the  German  Confederation  were  too  loosely 
bound  together.  This  invention,  like  others  of  mechan- 
ical machines,  was  not  a  practical  invention  because  the 
machine  invented  was  too  easily  thrown  out  of  adjust- 
ment. The  Customs  Union  was  invented  in  1828  to 
supply  the  necessary  element  of  coherency.  It  was 
hardly  adequate  for  its  task,  at  the  time;  but  it  made 
the  people  think  of  national  union;  an  idea  that  was 
finally  developed  in  1871. 

In  Russia,  considerable  progress  was  made  from 
1800  to  1850,  though  not  so  much  as  in  the  countries 
farther  west.  An  adequate  reason  would  seem  to  be 
that  there  were  too  few  minds,  in  proportion  to  the 
entire  population,  that  were  able  to  conceive  and  de- 
velop the  ideas  that  are  needed  to  make  progress. 

During  this  half-century,  while  the  names  of  many 
men  stand  out  as  having  done  constructive  work  in 
invention  and  discovery,  and  while  many  great  states- 
men existed,  the  names  of  three  statesmen  stand  out 
more  brightly  than  the  rest :  Pitt,  Talleyrand  and  Met- 
ternich.  Each  had  the  mind  to  conceive,  develop  and 
produce;  and  each  did  conceive,  develop  and  produce. 
Of  the  three,  William  Pitt  was,  according  to  almost 
any  accepted  standard  by  far  the  greatest,  and  Talley- 


262  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

rand  was  second.  Without  the  force  and  guidance  of 
such  a  mind  as  Pitt  possessed  and  utilized,  it  is  hard 
to  estimate  what  would  have  been  the  role  of  England 
in  the  Napoleonic  wars,  and  what  would  have  been  her 
fate.  In  the  actual  course  of  events,  it  was  England 
that  announced  the  umate  in  four  moves"  to  Napoleon 
at  Trafalgar,  and  that  finally  checkmated  him  at 
Waterloo.  True,  Pitt  died  long  before  Waterloo;  but 
the  policy  which  he  conceived  and  developed  was  the 
policy  which  was  followed;  and  the  influence  of  his 
mind  lived  in  almost  unabated  strength  after  his  poor, 
frail  body  had  ceased  to 'live. 

Talleyrand  seems  to  have  been  what  I  have  asked 
permission  to  call  an  "opportunistic  inventor";  quick 
to  conceive,  develop  and  produce  plans  for  meeting 
difficult  situations  as  they  arose,  but  without  any  ulti- 
mate objective,  or  any  moral  or  other  principles  of  any 
kind.  Metternich,  on  the  other  hand,  though  lacking 
the  brilliancy  of  Talleyrand,  exerted  his  talents  de- 
votedly to  the  interests  of  his  country,  as  he  saw  them. 
But  he  failed  to  realize  how  deep  the  ideas  of  the 
French  Revolution  had  been  engraved  in  the  minds  of 
men,  and  finally  saw  the  Machine  of  the  Austrian  Gov- 
ernment almost  destroyed  in  1848.  He  himself  was 
forced  to  flee ;  and  the  Emperor  was  forced  to  abdicate 
in  favor  of  his  nephew,  who  granted  the  people  a  Con- 
stitution, in  order  to  save  the  Machine.  In  Prussia, 
affairs  went  almost  as  far  as  in  Austria,  though  not 
nearly  so  far  as  in  France.  The  Machine  in  Prussia 
was  saved  by  the  promise  of  the  granting  of  a  consti- 
tution. 

The  main  ultimate  political  result  of  the  agitations 
of  all  kinds  during  the  half  century  1800  to  1850,  was 
the  granting  to  greater  numbers  of  people  of  a  part  in 
directing  the  affairs  of  State.  In  France,  the  whole 
Machine  of  Civilization  had  been  menaced  with  de- 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT     263 

struction  in  the  years  just  previous  to  1800;  but  de- 
struction had  not  resulted,  and  actual  improvement  had 
been  begun  by  1800,  though  in  an  experimental  and 
tentative  way.  During  the  fifty  years  now  under  con- 
sideration, the  idea  conceived  and  developed  in  France 
spread  to  all  other  civilized  countries;  and  in  all  those 
countries  it  exercised  its  benignant  influence,  especially 
in  the  new  nation  across  the  Atlantic,  the  United  States 
of  America.  Reciprocally,  the  news  of  the  formation 
of  that  republic,  and  the  adoption  of  its  Constitution 
in  1787,  had  exercised  considerable  influence  in  giving 
support  to  the  idea  of  the  people  of  France,  although 
the  United  States  of  America  was  very  far  away  indeed, 
and  her  experiment  in  government  was  as  yet  untried. 
Then,  as  the  years  went  by,  between  1800  and  1850, 
and  as  the  American  experiment  became  increasingly 
successful,  and  as  the  ocean  steamships  brought  prompt 
and  adequate  information  about  all  of  its  developments, 
the  American  idea  joined  with  the  French  idea,  to  ad- 
vance the  cause  of  government  by  the  people. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that  the  discoveries  in 
the  physical  sciences  and  the  utilization  of  those  dis- 
coveries in  the  invention  of  material  instruments  and 
mechanisms  were  more  fruitful  in  creations  of  a  per- 
manent and  definite  character  than  were  the  achieve- 
ments of  statesmen,  generals,  admirals  and  "oppor- 
tunistic inventors"  in  general.  The  same  remark  is  true 
of  discoveries  and  inventions  in  systems  of  government, 
ethics  and  religion.  These  also  have  developed  monu- 
ments of  extraordinary  permanency;  witness,  for  in- 
stance, the  inventions  of  the  kingdom,  of  democracy  and 
of  the  Buddhist,  Shinto,  Taoist,  Jewish,  Christian  and 
Mohammedan  religions.  The  distinctive  feature  in 
securing  permanency  seems  to  have  been  the  intent  to 
secure  it.  The  sudden  conception,  development  and 
production  of  a  campaign,  political  maneuvre  or  busi- 


264  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

ness  enterprise,  seems  to  have  produced  a  creature  that 
was  merely  a  temporary  expedient,  adapted  only  to 
meet  emergencies  that  themselves  were  temporary. 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  influence  of  these  tem- 
porary expedients  has  not  sometimes  been  great:  it 
does  not  mean,  for  instance,  that  the  influence  of  the 
victory  at  Salamis  was  not  great.  It  does  not  mean 
to  deny  the  plain  fact  that  it  has  been  the  succession  of 
the  results  of  temporary  expedients  that  has  brought 
affairs  to  the  condition  in  which  they  are  today.  It 
does  mean,  however,  that  the  actual  pieces  of  the 
existing  Machine  of  Civilization  are  the  permanent 
inventions  which  have  been  made;  while  the  opportu- 
nistic inventions  have  in  some  cases  prevented,  and  in 
other  cases  have  furthered,  the  making  of  those  inven- 
tions, and  the  incorporation  of  them  in  the  Machine. 
The  invention  of  printing,  for  instance,  produced  an 
actual  part  of  the  Machine;  while  the  successful  wars 
waged  by  civilized  nations  with  the  gun  against  sav- 
ages, barbarians  and  peoples  of  a  lower  order  of  civili- 
zation, made  possible  the  further  development  of  print- 
ing, and  its  continual  use  in  upbuilding  the  Machine. 
The  use  of  the  opportunistic  inventions  seems  to  have 
been  in  assisting  the  inventors  of  permanent  creations 
and  in  directing  the  efforts  of  the  operators  of  the 
Machine. 

An  analogue  can  be  found  in  the  case  of  the  inven- 
tion, development  and  operation  of  the  smaller  ma- 
chines of  every-day  life :  the  inventor  of  each  machine 
merely  invents  that  machine;  when  he  has  done  this 
his  work  is  virtually  finished.  When  his  machine  is 
put  to  work  (say,  an  electric  railroad)  the  operators 
carry  on  the  various  routine  tasks;  just  as  the  presi- 
dent of  a  bank  operates  his  bank,  or  the  president  of  a 
nation  administers  the  affairs  of  the  nation.  But  there 
arise  occasions  when  something  goes  wrong,  when 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    265 

something  besides  supplying  coal  and  oil  and  electricity 
is  necessary  for  the  successful  running  of  the  railroad, 
when  something  more  than  routine  administration  is 
required  of  the  president  of  the  bank,  or  the  president 
of  the  nation.  Then  the  ingenious  and  bright  mechanic 
or  electrician  invents  a  practical  scheme  for  circum- 
venting the  difficulty  with  the  railroad;  or  Napoleon 
invents  a  campaign  to  save  the  French  Republic. 

In  1855  Taupenot  made  the  important  invention  of 
dry-plate  photography,  by  which  dry  plates  can  be  pre- 
pared and  kept  ready  for  use  when  needed,  and  Mi- 
chaux  invented  the  bicycle.  Both  of  these  were  fairly 
important  contributions  of  a  practical  kind;  so  was 
Woodruff's  invention  of  the  sleeping-car,  and  so  was 
Perkins's  discovery  of  aniline  dyes,  both  of  which  came 
in  1856.  None  of  these  was  a  brilliant  invention, 
though  each  was  a  useful  one.  But  they  were  imme- 
diately followed  by  one  of  a  high  order  of  brilliancy 
and  usefulness,  Siemens's  regenerative  furnace,  in  which 
the  waste  heat  of  the  combustion  gases  was  utilized  to 
heat  the  air  or  gas  just  entering.  In  the  same  year, 
Kingsland  invented  a  refining  engine  for  use  in  making 
paper  pulp.  In  the  following  year  the  first  ocean-going 
iron-clad  ship  of  war,  La  Gloire,  appeared,  and  in 
1858  the  first  cable  car,  invented  by  E.  A.  Gardner. 

In  the  same  year  Giffard  invented  his  famous  in- 
jector, which  performs  the  feat  (seemingly  impossible 
at  first  thought)  of  using  steam  at  a  certain  pressure 
in  a  boiler  to  force  water  into  that  same  boiler  against 
its  own  pressure !  The  explanation  of  course  is  that 
the  area  of  the  stream  of  water  that  enters  the  boiler 
is  less  than  the  area  of  the  stream  of  steam  that  leaves 
the  boiler.  This  invention  was  one  of  a  very  high  order 
of  brilliancy  of  conception,  excellence  of  construction 
and  usefulness  of  final  product.  It  was  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  the  Machine. 


266  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

In  the  same  year  Cyrus  Field  of  New  York  succeeded 
in  laying  the  first  Atlantic  cable  between  Ireland  and 
Newfoundland.  It  is  difficult  to  declare  whether  this 
achievement  constituted  an  invention  or  not,  and  it  may 
not  be  so  classed  by  many  people.  Nevertheless,  it 
created  something  that  had  not  existed  before,  and  it 
progressed  by  the  same  three  stages  of  conception,  de- 
velopment and  production  by  which  all  inventions  pro- 
gress. It  was  a  contribution  of  enormous  value  to  the 
Machine,  moreover;  for  though  the  first  cable  was  not 
a  practical  success,  and  though  the  second  cable  broke 
while  being  laid  in  1865,  it  was  recovered  and  re-laid 
and  afterward  operated  successfully.  Since  that  time, 
submarine  cables  have  been  multiplied  to  such  an  extent 
that  there  were  more  than  1800  in  operation  in  1917, 
and  they  formed  a  network  under  all  the  seas.  Such 
important  parts  of  the  Machine  of  Civilization  have 
these  submarine  cables  become  that  the  Machine  as  it 
is  could  not  exist  without  them.  That  is,  it  could  not 
have  existed  before  the  wireless  telegraph  came.  The 
wireless  telegraph  has  made  the  Machine  less  de- 
pendent on  submarine  cables  than  it  was  before,  and 
yet  not  wholly  independent. 

In  1858  the  Great  Eastern  was  launched,  the  largest 
steamship  built  up  to  that  time.  The  case  of  the  Great 
Eastern  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that  she  was  too 
large  to  fit  in  the  Machine  as  it  then  existed,  and  that 
by  the  time  that  the  Machine  had  grown  large  enough 
the  Great  Eastern  was  obsolete ! 

About  1859,  Kirchhoff  and  Bunsen  invented  the 
spectroscope,  an  optical  instrument  for  forming  and 
analyzing  the  spectra  of  the  rays  emitted  by  bodies  and 
substances.  In  1860  Gaston  Plante  invented  his 
famous  "secondary  battery,"  formed  by  passing  an 
electric  current  through  a  cell  composed  of  two  sheets 
of  lead  immersed  in  dilute  sulphuric  acid,  the  two  sheets 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT     267 

separated  by  non-conducting  strips  of  felt.  The  acid 
being  decomposed,  hydrogen  formed  on  one  plate,  while 
oxygen  attacked  the  other  plate  and  formed  peroxide 
of  lead.  There  being  now  two  dissimilar  metals  in  an 
acid  solution,  a  Voltaic  battery  had  been  created,  that 
gave  a  current  which  passed  through  the  liquid  in  a 
direction  the  reverse  of  the  current  ("charging  cur- 
rent") that  had  caused  the  change.  Plante's  secondary 
battery  was  an  important  and  practical  contribution  to 
the  Machine;  but  the  credit  for  the  basic  invention  does 
not  belong  to  Plante,  but  to  Sir  William  Grove,  who 
had  invented  the  "Grove's  gas  battery."  In  this  bat- 
tery, two  plates  of  platinum  were  immersed  in  dilute 
acid,  and  submitted  to  a  charging  current  that  decom- 
posed the  liquid  and  formed  an  actual  though  prac- 
tically ineffective  "secondary  battery" ;  the  two  elements 
being  oxygen  and  hydrogen. 

In  the  next  year  Philip  Reis  invented  the  singing 
telephone,  by  which  he  could  transmit  musical  tones 
over  considerable  distances.  Whether  or  not  Philip 
Reis  invented  the  speaking  telephone  has  been  a  much 
controverted  question,  for  the  reason  that  speech  was 
occasionally  transmitted  over  Reis's  telephone, — 
though  not  by  intention.  The  invention  that  Reis  con- 
ceived, developed  and  produced  was  a  singing  tele- 
phone only;  the  apparatus  by  which  he  sometimes 
transmitted  speech  was  his  singing  telephone,  slightly 
disadjusted.  That  Reis  should  have  failed  to 
invent  the  telephone  is  amazing,  in  the  same  sense 
that  it  is  amazing  that  Galileo  did  not  invent  the 
thermometer  and  the  barometer;  and  the  fact  is  ex- 
tremely instructive  in  enabling  us  to  see  distinctly  what 
constitutes  invention.  To  make  an  invention,  a  man 
must  himself  create  a  thing  that  is  new,  and  produce  it 
in  a  concrete  form,  such  that  "persons  skilled  in  the  art 
can  make  and  use  it."  Reis  did  not  do  this:  and  yet 


268  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Philip  Reis's  telephone  could  be  made  to  speak  in  a 
few  seconds,  by  simply  turning  a  little  thumb-screw! 
Reis  did  not  know  this,  and  consequently  could  not  give 
the  information  to  ''persons  skilled  in  the  art."  Reis 
did  not  invent  the  speaking  telephone,  for  the  funda- 
mental reason  that  his  original  conception,  although 
correct  for  his  singing  telephone,  was  wholly  incorrect 
for  a  speaking  telephone;  because  the  speaking  tele- 
phone requires  a  continuous  current,  while  Reis's  con- 
ception included  an  intermittent  current. 

Apologies  are  tendered  for  going  into  what  may 
seem  a  technicality  at  such  great  length;  but  the  author 
wishes  to  utilize  this  example  to  emphasize  the  impor- 
tance of  the  original  conception,  the  image  pictured  on 
the  mind  by  the  imagination.  This  original  concep- 
tion is  of  paramount  importance  in  making  inventions, 
not  only  of  material  mechanisms,  but  of  all  other  things 
that  can  be  invented,  such  as  religions,  laws,  systems  of 
government,  campaigns,  books,  paintings,  etc.,  etc.  The 
final  product  cannot  be  better  than  the  original  concep- 
tion, except  by  chance ;  for  even  if  the  development  be 
absolutely  perfect,  the  invention  finally  brought  forth 
can  be  only  equal  to  the  original  conception.  It  is  ob- 
vious that  the  simpler  the  invention  is  the  more  easily 
it  can  be  made  equal  to  the  original  conception,  and 
vice  versa.  For  this  reason  the  stethoscope  is  a  more 
efficient  embodiment  of  the  original  conception  than  is 
that  very  inefficient  product- — the  steam  engine. 

The  fact  that  the  final  product  cannot  be  better  than 
the  original  conception  (except  by  chance)  is  the  bot- 
tom reason  for  placing  men  of  fine  minds  at  the  head 
of  important  organizations.  It  is  the  ideas  conceived 
by  the  man  at  the  head  in  any  walk  of  life,  that  are 
developed  by  his  assistants :  at  least,  this  is  the  inten- 
tion, in  all  organizations,  and  the  only  efficient  pro- 
cedure. We  see  an  analogue  in  the  actual  life  of  every 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL    GOVERNMENT     269 

individual.  Now  the  conception  is  the  work  of  the 
imagination,  and  not  of  the  reasoning  faculties:  the 
reasoning  faculties  develop  and  construct  what  the  im- 
agination conceives.  It  is  because  of  this  that  men  of 
fine  mentality  sometimes  devote  their  talents  to  evil 
ends:  their  imaginations  have  conceived  evil  pictures. 
Sometimes  this  is  the  result  of  a  bad  environment  in 
childhood.  The  environment  of  Talleyrand's  child- 
hood, for  instance,  caused  the  conception  in  his  imagi- 
nation of  evil  aims. 

In  1860  Carre  made  the  important  invention  of  the 
manufacture  of  ice  with  the  use  of  ammonia.  In  1861 
Craske  improved  stereotyping  by  making  it  possible  to 
reproduce  curved  printing  plates  from  flat  forms  of 
type.  Green  invented  the  driven-well  in  the  same  year, 
and  McKay  invented  the  shoe-sewing  machine. 

The  most  important  event  of  1861  was  the  outbreak 
of  the  Civil  War  in  America,  when  the  invention  of 
the  American  Constitution  was  put  to  its  severest  test. 
It  had  been  known  ever  since  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution that  the  instrument  was  faulty  in  not  defining 
clearly  the  relative  rights  of  the  Federal  Government 
and  the  separate  states;  but  it  had  been  found  impossi- 
ble to  secure  the  assent  of  a  sufficiently  large  body  of 
citizens  to  any  proposition  that  defined  them  clearly; 
and  so  the  machine  of  Government  had  operated  for 
nearly  three-quarters  of  a  century,  with  the  disquieting 
knowledge  in  the  minds  of  its  operators  that  conditions 
might  put  it  to  a  test  that  would  break  it  down,  and 
perhaps  destroy  it  totally.  The  most  dangerous  condi- 
tion was  seen  to  be  the  one  associated  with  the  question 
of  slavery  in  the  Southern  States.  This  question,  and 
the  consequent  condition  of  antagonism  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  became  rapidly  worse  during  the 
period  from  1846  to  1861,  when  war  between  them 
finally  broke  out. 


270  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

The  war  was  ultimately  decided  in  favor  of  the 
North,  despite  the  fact  that  the  South  was  much  the 
better  prepared;  in  fact,  that  the  North  was  wholly 
unprepared.  The  main  weakness  in  the  Confederate 
situation  was  the  fact  that  cotton  was  virtually  the  only 
product  with  which  she  could  raise  money  for  feeding 
and  equipping  her  army,  that  she  had  to  get  the  equip- 
ments from  Europe,  and  that  the  line  of  communica- 
tion to  Europe  was  across  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  3000 
miles  wide.  The  weakness  seemed,  during  a  period  of 
about  twenty-four  hours,  to  be  removed  by  the  inven- 
tion of  the  iron-clad  Merrimac;  for  the  Merrimac  de- 
stroyed the  Cumberland  and  Congress,  two  of  the  finest 
warships  on  the  Union  side,  without  the  slightest  diffi- 
culty in  one  forenoon,  and  threatened  the  destruction 
of  all  the  other  Union  ships.  The  Union  ships  having 
been  destroyed  or  made  to  flee  to  port,  complete  free- 
dom from  blockade  of  the  Confederate  coast  would 
follow  immediately.  The  Monitor  had  been  invented 
years  before;  but  no  steps  had  been  taken  to  build  her, 
despite  the  insistence  of  the  great  inventing  engineer, 
John  Ericsson.  News  of  the  work  of  constructing  the 
Merrimac  had  reached  the  North,  however,  and  stim- 
ulated the  northern  imagination  to  the  extent  that  it 
was  able  to  see  in  the  Monitor  a  savior  (and  the  only 
savior)  from  the  Merrimac.  By  the  exercise  of  amaz- 
ing engineering  skill,  Ericsson  constructed  his  inven- 
tion with  such  speed  and  precision  that  the  Monitor 
was  able  to  meet  and  defeat  the  Merrimac  the  very  day 
after  she  had  destroyed  the  Union  ships. 

The  result  was  an  immediate  and  absolute  reversal 
of  conditions.  It  was  the  North  now  that  controlled 
the  sea  and  the  South  that  was  to  be  blockaded.  And 
not  only  this;  for  the  fact  that  the  North  possessed  a 
warship  that  was  not  only  the  most  formidable  in  the 
world,  but  was  of  such  simple  construction  that  many  of 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    271 

them  could  be  launched  in  a  very  short  time,  showed  to 
those  European  powers  who  were  deliberating  as  to 
whether  or  not  they  should  recognize  the  Confederacy, 
the  futility  of  their  attempting  to  carry  into  effect  on 
the  American  coast  any  naval  policy  of  a  character  un- 
friendly to  the  United  States.  The  victory  of  the 
Monitor  was  the  announcement  of  the  "mate  in  four 
moves."  Victory  for  the  South  became  immediately 
impossible,  no  matter  how  long  the  final  checkmate 
might  be  delayed.  We  know,  of  course,  that  check- 
mate was  delayed  until  April  9,  1865,  when  Lee  sur- 
rendered to  Grant  at  Appomattox. 

In  few  cases  has  the  influence  of*  invention  on  history 
shone  more  clearly  than  in  the  case  of  the  Monitor. 
The  Monitor  was  the  deciding  factor  in  the  Civil  War. 
This  does  not  mean  that  the  Monitor  alone  won  the 
Civil  War.  No  one  event  or  person  or  maneuver  won 
the  Civil  War :  for  the  Civil  War  was  won  by  the  re- 
sultant effect  of  many  events,  persons  and  maneuvers. 
It  does  mean,  however,  that  the  victory  of  the  Monitor 
made  it  virtually  impossible  for  the  issue  to  be  other- 
wise than  it  eventually  was;  provided,  of  course,  that 
a  course  of  conduct  not  wholly  unreasonable  was  pur- 
sued by  the  North.  All  the  other  factors  in  the  war 
were  what  might  be  called  usual:  the  Monitor  alone 
was  unusual.  The  Monitor's  battle  was  the  only  battle 
in  which  the  light  of  genius  shone,  on  either  side. 

The  Monitor's  victory  emphasizes  a  truth  pre- 
viously pointed  out  in  this  book :  the  truth  that  the  in- 
fluence of  invention  has  been  to  advance  the  cause  of 
civilization,  by  giving  victory  in  wars,  as  a  rule,  to  the 
side  possessing  the  higher  civilization.  This  was  clear- 
ly the  case  in  our  Civil  War;  for  the  South  was  far 
more  an  agricultural  and  primitive  community  than  the 
North.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  Ericsson  lived  in 
the  North.  We  can  hardly  imagine  Ericsson  coming 


272  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

from  England  and  going  to  live  in  the  South;  for  the 
simple  reason  that  Ericsson,  the  dynamic,  inventive 
Ericsson,  could  not  possibly  have  lived  a  life  even  ap- 
proximately satisfying  to  him  in  the  South.  There  was 
no  opportunity  in  the  South  for  him  to  exercise  his 
powers.  It  has  been  said  sometimes  that  the  Monitor 
might  have  been  produced  by  the  South,  and  the  Mer- 
rimac  by  the  North.  Of  course,  anything  is  possible 
that  is  not  wholly  impossible;  but  history  shows  that 
inventions  have,  as  a  rule,  been  produced  by  people  like 
those  of  the  North,  and  not  by  people  like  those  of  the 
South. 

The  influence  of  invention  on  history  has  been  to 
bring  about  such  victories  as  that  of  the  Monitor  over 
the  Merrimac;  and  the  influence  of  those  victories  has 
been  to  enhance  the  advantages  possessed  by  the  more 
highly  civilized.  Furthermore,  the  victory  of  the  more 
civilized  has  given  civilization  greater  assurance  in  its 
struggle  to  go  still  higher,  just  as  defeat  has  made  it 
pause  and  sometimes  retreat.  The  issue  of  the  Civil 
War,  for  instance,  was  more  than  a  victory  over  sla- 
very and  the  tendency  to  dissipation  of  energy  by  a 
division  into  two  parts  of  the  forces  of  the  country; 
for  it  removed  permanently  a  highly  injurious  obstruc- 
tion and  started  the  rejuvenated  republic  along  that 
career  of  progress  which  it  'has  followed  since  so 
valiantly. 

In  1861  E.  G.  Otis  invented  the  passenger  elevator. 
Possibly  this  was  not  an  invention  of  the  first  order  of 
brilliancy,  but  certainly  it  was  an  invention  of  the  first 
order  of  utility.  Can  anyone  imagine  the  New  York 
of  today  without  passenger  elevators?  The  Otis  ele- 
vator has  not  made  it  possible  to  grow  two  blades  of 
grass  where  one  blade  grew  before;  but  it  has  made  it 
possible  to  operate  hotels  and  office  buildings  of  more 
than  twice  as  many  stories  as  could  be  operated  before. 


GROWTH    OF   LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    273 

Few  inventions  have  had  more  immediate  influence  on 
contemporary  history  than  the  passenger  elevator. 

In  the  same  year  was  invented  the  barbed-wire  fence. 
The  production  of  carbide  of  calcium  followed  in  1862, 
and  also  the  invention  of  the  Catling  gun.  This  was 
the  first  successful  machine  gun,  and  an  invention  of  a 
high  order  of  brilliancy  of  conception,  excellence  of 
construction  and  practical  usefulness.  Few  inventions 
have  been  more  wholly  unique  than  this  machine:  so 
beautiful  and  harmonious  and  simple  in  principle — 
though  devoted  superficially  merely  to  the  killing  and 
wounding  of  men.  Like  all  inventions  in  the  gun  class, 
it  contributed  to  the  self-protectiveness  of  the  Machine. 

An  invention  in  a  similar  class,  smokeless  gunpow- 
der was  invented  by  Schultze  in  1863,  for  use  as  a 
sporting  powder.  Being  based  on  the  action  of  nitric 
a^cid  on  cellulose,  it  was  somewhat  like  gun-cotton,  and 
therefore  a  chemical  compound;  rather  than  a  mechan- 
ical mixture  like  the  old  gunpowder.  It  gave  out  but 
little  smoke  when  fired.  Smokelessness  would  be  such 
an  obvious  advantage  in  military  operations,  that  the 
study  of  this  powder  was  prosecuted  carefully,  with  a 
view  to  obtaining  a  smokeless  powder  suitable  for  mili- 
tary purposes.  This  was  accomplished  in  1886  by 
Vieille  in  France.  The  invention  of  smokeless  powder 
was  not  one  of  a  high  order  of  brilliancy  for  the  reason 
that  it  was  the  result  of  a  long  series  of  painstaking 
investigations  and  not  of  any  luminous  idea.  It  was 
nevertheless  a  contribution  of  the  highest  usefulness  to 
the  self-protectiveness  of  the  Machine,  and  therefore 
to  Civilization. 

In  1864  Behel  invented  the  automatic  grain  binder, 
an  invention  of  the  same  class  of  practical  and  con- 
crete usefulness  as  McCormick's  reaper,  and  a  distinct 
contribution  to  the  Machine.  It  expedited  the  binding 
of  grain,  tended  to  insure  accuracy  and  efficiency,  and 


274  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

stimulated  the  agricultural  classes  to  a  study  of  mech- 
anism, and  therefore  of  physics  and  the  arts  depending 
on  it.  In  other  words,  this  invention  performed  the 
double  service  that  many  other  inventions  have  per- 
formed, of  contributing  to  the  material  necessities  of 
men,  and  inspiring  their  intellects  as  well.  In  the  fol- 
lowing year,  Martin  invented  his  process  for  improving 
the  manufacture  of  fine  steel. 

In  the  same  year  (1865)  Lister  brought  out  his 
method  of  antiseptic  surgery.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
specify  any  invention  which  has  contributed  more  in 
half  a  century  to  the  direct  welfare  of  mankind.  It  has 
effected  such  a  change  in  surgery  as  to  make  the  sur- 
gery before  Lister's  time  seem  almost  barbarous.  It 
made  a  greater  change  in  surgery  than  any  change  ever 
made  before :  one  is  tempted  to  declare  that  it  has 
brought  about  a  greater  change  in  surgery  than  all  the 
previous  changes  put  together.  Now,  it  is  interesting 
to  realize  that  all  these  changes,  extending  over  all  the 
civilized  world,  and  affecting  countless  human  beings, 
were  caused  by  "a  mere  idea."  They  were  caused  by  a 
picture  made  by  the  imagination  of  Lister  on  his  mental 
retina,  that  must  have  covered  a  very  small  area  of  his 
brain.  It  is  interesting  also  to  realize  that  if  that  part 
of  his  brain  had  become  impaired  from  any  cause,  the 
picture  could  not  have  been  imprinted  there.  And  was 
his  brain  always  in  condition  to  receive  such  a  picture, 
or  only  seldom?  Knowing  as  we  do  that  even  the  most 
brilliant  minds  are  brilliant  only  rarely,  may  we  not 
infer  that  conditions  of  the  brain  permitting  such  pic- 
tures as  this  of  Lister  occur  but  rarely? 

It  was  also  in  1865  that  Bullock  invented  his  web- 
feeding  printing  press,  and  Dodge  invented  the  auto- 
matic shell-ejector  for  firearms.  In  1866  Siemens  and 
Martin  invented  the  open-hearth  process  for  steel  mak- 


GROWTH    OF    LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT     275 

ing,  Burleigh  the  compressed  air  rock-drill,  and  White- 
head  the  automobile  torpedo. 

The  Whitehead  torpedo  was  an  Invention  of  the 
highest  order  of  brilliancy  of  conception;  but,  unlike 
many  other  inventions  of  this  class,  it  has  been  a  matter 
of  the  utmost  difficulty  to  develop  it.  The  possible 
usefulness  suggested  was  so  great  that  the  principal 
European  nations,  especially  the  Germans  and  English, 
went  about  its  development  at  once;  but  the  practical 
difficulties  encountered  were  so  many  and  so  great,  and 
the  opportunities  of  testing  out  its  usefulness  in  actual 
warfare  were  so  few,  that  it  was  not  until  after  its  suc- 
cessful and  important  use  in  the  war  between  Russia 
and  Japan  in  1904-1905,  that  the  torpedo  was  accepted 
as  a  major  weapon.  This  invention  is  one  of  the  most 
important  contributions  ever  made  to  the  self-protec- 
tivity  of  the  Machine  of  Civilization;  not  only  because 
of  its  immediate  usefulness  in  war,  but  because  its  com- 
plexity necessitates  such  skill  and  knowledge  in  the 
operators,  and  its  cost  is  so  great,  that  only  the  most 
wealthy  and  highly  civilized  nations  are  able  to  use  it 
successfully.  As  has  been  pointed  out  repeatedly  in 
this  book,  one  of  the  influences  of  invention  on  history 
has  been  to  urge  nations  to  a  high  degree  of  civiliza- 
tion, under  pain  of  greater  or  less  subjection  to  nations 
more  highly  civilized. 

In  1866  Wilde  in  England  and  Siemens  in  Germany 
invented  dynamo  electric  machines,  in  which  the  mag- 
netic field  was  made,  not  by  permanent  steel  magnets, 
but  by  electro-magnets  of  soft  iron  that  were  energized 
by  the  current  which  the  machine  itself  produced.  This 
was  an  invention  of  the  utmost  practical  value ;  but  who 
was  the  actual  inventor  does  not  seem  to  be  exactly 
known.  Its  main  value  is  in  its  ability  to  produce  a 
much  more  powerful  current  than  could  be  produced 
when  using  permanent  magnets;  caused  by  the  fact  that 


276  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

electro-magnets  can  create  a  "magnetic  field"  much 
stronger  than  steel  magnets  can. 

In  1867  Tilghman  invented  his  sulphite  process  for 
pulp  making,  and  in  1868,  Moncrief  invented  his 
famous  disappearing  gun-carriage.  This  was  an  inven- 
tion requiring  a  high  order  of  conception  and  con- 
structiveness ;  it  resulted  in  a  considerable  improvement 
in  the  art  of  sea-coast  defense,  and  therefore  in  the  self- 
protectiveness  of  the  Machine,  by  keeping  the  guns 
safe  behind  fortifications  except  when  actually  being 
fired.  Moncrief's  carriage,  although  originally  very 
good,  has  been  improved  upon  from  time  to  time; 
whenever  the  progress  of  the  mechanic  arts  has  made 
it  possible,  and  some  inventor  has  realized  the  fact. 

Attention  is  here  requested  to  the  last  clause  in  the 
last  sentence.  As  civilization  has  progressed  and  vari- 
ous inventions  have  been  made,  the  whole  field  of  possi- 
ble future  invention  has  been  narrowed,  but  a  field 
of  clear  though  limited  opportunity  has  been  mapped 
out.  Each  invention  narrows  the  field  by  removing  the 
opportunities  for  making  that  especial  invention :  after 
the  printing  press  had  been  invented,  for  instance,  the 
number  of  possible  inventions  was  reduced  by  one ;  but 
see  what  a  field  for  future  invention  was  mapped  out, 
and  what  immeasurable  opportunities  were  suggested ! 
Nevertheless,  opportunity  does  not  produce  inventions, 
it  merely  invites  them;  and  we  have  occasionally  noted 
in  this  book  that  the  opportunity  to  make  a  certain  in- 
vention had  existed  for  ages  before  it  was  realized: 
for  instance,  the  sewing  machine  and  the  little  stetho- 
scope. 

In  1868  Sholes  invented  what  is  usually  considered 
the  first  practical  typewriting  machine.  The  machine 
that  Thurber  had  invented  in  1843  had  never  been 
developed  to  a  practical  stage,  and,  consequently,  it 
was  not  itself  a  direct  contribution  to  the  Machine. 


GROWTH    OF   LIBERAL   GOVERNMENT    277 

Whether  it  paved  the  way  for  Sholes's  is  a  debatable 
point;  if  it  did,  it  was  an  indirect  contribution,  like 
Hero's  engine.  Not  for  several  years  after  1868  did 
the  typewriter  take  its  place  in  the  Machine :  but  now 
it  plays  an  exceedingly  useful,  if  not  conspicuous,  part 
in  making  it  operate  day  after  day. 

In  the  same  year  Nobel  contributed  another  of  his 
notable  inventions,  and  called  it  dynamite.  It  was  the 
development  of  an  exceedingly  brilliant  and  original 
idea;  and,  as  often  happens  with  conceptions  of  that 
kind,  it  was  easily  developed  into  a  concrete,  usable  and 
useful  thing.  It  consisted  merely  in  mixing  nitro-gly- 
cerin  with  about  an  equal  quantity  of  very  finely  divided 
earth.  The  resulting  mixture  was  much  less  sensitive 
to  shock  and  therefore  much  safer  to  handle  than  nitro- 
glycenn.  It  supplied  the  factor  needed  to  render  the 
utilization  of  nitro-glycerin  possible,  and  therefore  it 
was  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  Machine.  In  the 
same  year,  Mege  invented  oleomargarine,  a  compara- 
tively inexpensive  substitute  for  butter,  and  therefore 
an  important  factor  in  furthering  the  health  and  com- 
fort of  the  poorer  classes  and  a  considerable  forward 
step. 

Shortly  after  1866,  Mrs.  Eddy  declared  to  many 
people  that  she  had  made  a  discovery  which  enabled 
her  to  cure  the  sick  with  Divine  aid,  and  without  the 
use  of  drugs.  She  healed  many  people  and  gradually 
gathered  followers.  In  a  few  years,  she  developed 
a  religion  that  is  now  called  Christian  Science;  and  in 
1875  she  published  a  book  called  "Science  and  Health, 
with  Key  to  the  Scriptures."  Since  then,  the  number 
of  her  followers  has  increased  enormously,  and  Chris- 
tian Science  Churches  have  been  erected  in  all  the 
civilized  countries  of  the  world.  Though  the  doctrines 
of  Christian  Science  have  not  been  accepted  by  many 
Christians,  the  great  opposition  directed  toward  them 


278  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

at  first  has  now  been  largely  overcome;  and  it  is  ad- 
mitted by  most  fair-minded  people  that  Christian 
Science  seems  to  have  made  an  important  contribution 
to  the  spiritual,  mental  and  physical  welfare  of  man- 
kind. 

In  1868,  Westinghouse  made  his  epochal  invention, 
the  railway  air-brake.  It  was  the  result  of  a  brilliant 
mental  conception  that  was  put  into  practical  form 
without  very  serious  difficulty.  At  first  sight,  this 
invention  might  not  be  considered  of  very  great  im- 
portance, because  one  might  assume  that  its  only  office 
was  to  prevent  collisions  and  consequent  loss  of  life  and 
property.  Doubtless  that  was  its  only  direct  effect; 
but  its  indirect  effect  was  to  increase  the  confidence  of 
the  people  in  the  safety  of  railway  travel,  consequently 
the  number  of  people  who  traveled,  consequently  the 
prosperity  of  the  railway  companies,  consequently  the 
faith  of  people  in  railway  investments,  consequently  the 
number  and  magnitude  of  railway  projects,  consequent- 
ly the  number  and  length  of  railways,  consequently  the 
speed  and  general  excellence  of  transportation  and 
communication  over  the  land  in  every  civilized  country, 
and  consequently  the  coherency  and  operativeness  of 
the  entire  Machine. 


CHAPTER  XII 

INVENTION    OF    THE    MODERN    MILITARY 

MACHINE,    TELEPHONE,    PHONOGRAPH, 

AND    PREVENTIVE    MEDICINE 

TN  1866,  one  of  the  most  important  inventions  of 
-••  history  was  put  to  test,  in  a  war  between  Austria 
and  Prussia.  The  invention  was  the  Prussian  Mili- 
tary Machine,  of  which  the  inventor  was  von  Moltke, 
the  Chief  of  Staff  of  the  Prussian  Army.  Moltke  was 
not  the  original  inventor  of  the  Military  Machine,  any 
more  than  Watt  was  the  original  inventor  of  the  steam 
engine ;  but  he  was  the  inventor  of  the  modern  Mili- 
tary Machine,  just  as  Watt  was  the  inventor  of  the 
modern  reciprocating  steam-engine. 

Moltke  had  been  made  Chief  of  Staff  in  1858,  and 
had  proceeded  at  once  to  embody  an  idea  that  his  mind 
had  conceived  some  years  before.  This  idea  was  to 
utilize  all  the  new  inventions  of  every  kind  that  had 
been  made,  especially  in  weapons,  transportation  and 
communication;  and  to  continue  to  utilize  all  new  in- 
ventions as  each  reached  the  useful  stage,  in  such  a 
way  that  the  Prussian  Army  would  be  an  actual  weapon, 
which  could  be  handled  with  all  the  quickness  and  pre- 
cision that  the  products  of  modern  civilization  could 
impart  to  it.  Philip  of  Macedon,  Julius  Caesar,  and 
Frederick  William  of  Prussia  evidently  had  had  simi- 
lar ideas;  but  no  one  after  them,  save  Moltke,  seems 
to  have  realized  fully  that  armies  and  navies  must 
utilize  all  the  new  methods  and  appliances  that  can  be 
made  to  assist  their  operations,  if  those  armies  and 

279 


280  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

navies  are  to  attain  their  maximum  effectiveness.  It  is 
true  that  no  very  great  changes  in  arms  or  in  methods 
of  transportation  and  communication  had  recently 
taken  place,  at  the  time  when  Napoleon  went  to  war; 
but  this  only  emphasizes  the  new  conditions  with  which 
Moltke  was  confronted,  and  the  courage  and  resource- 
fulness with  which  he  met  them. 

Moltke's  Machine  was,  of  course,  much  more  com- 
prehensive and  detailed  than  the  paragraph  above 
would  indicate;  but  almost  every  machine,  after  it  has 
been  perfected,  is  comprehensive  and  detailed,  even 
if  the  original  idea  was  simple.  It  is  true  also  that 
the  direct  means  which  Moltke  employed  to  perfect 
his  Machine  was  to  train  officers  to  solve  independently 
certain  problems  in  strategy  and  tactics,  just  as  children 
at  school  were  taught  to  solve  problems  in  arithmetic. 
It  is  true  also  that  more  attention  has  usually  been 
fixed  on  Moltke's  system  of  training  than  on  his  utiliza- 
tion of  inventions,  and  it  may  be  true  that  Moltke 
himself  fixed  more  attention  on  it.  But  the  idea  of 
training  officers  as  he  did,  seems  also  to  have  been 
original  with  Moltke ;  and  it  is  certain  that  Moltke  was 
the  first  to  develop  such  a  system,  and  therefore,  that 
he  was  the  inventor  of  that  system. 

We  see,  therefore,  that  Moltke  made  two  separate 
inventions,  and  combined  both  in  his  machine.  Both 
inventions  were  condemned  and  ridiculed,  but  both 
succeeded.  The  result  was  that,  when  war  was  de- 
clared in  1866  between  Prussia  and  Austria,  a  reputedly 
greater  nation,  the  Prussian  machine  started  smoothly 
but  quickly  when  the  button  was  pressed,  advanced 
into  Austria  without  the  slightest  delay  or  jar,  collided 
at  once  with  the  Austrian  machine,  and  smashed  it  in 
one  encounter.  This  encounter  was  near  Sadowa  and 
Koniggratz,  and  took  place  only  seventeen  days  after 
war  began.  The  most  important  single  invention  that 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE     281 

Moltke  had  utilized  was  the  breech-loading  "needle 
gun,"  a  weapon  far  better  than  the  Austrians  had,  not 
only  in  speed  of  loading,  but  in  accuracy.  The  two 
armies  were  not  very  different  in  point  of  numbers :  so 
that,  even  if  von  Moltke's  other  measures  had  not  been 
taken,  the  superiority  of  the  Prussian  musket  over  the 
Austrian  must  of  itself  have  caused  the  winning  of  the 
war,  though  not  so  quickly  as  actually  was  the  case. 

But  in  the  war  with  France,  Moltke's  machine 
demonstrated  its  effectiveness  even  more  completely, 
because  its  task  was  harder.  For  France  was  esteemed 
the  greatest  military  nation  in  the  world;  it  was  the 
France  of  Napoleon  the  Great,  then  ruled  by  his  nephew 
Napoleon  III.  In  the  usual  sense  of  the  word,  the 
French  were  a  more  "military"  people  than  the  Prus- 
sians. The  Empire  of  Napoleon  III  was  much  more 
splendid  than  the  poor  little  Kingdom  of  Prussia,  the 
army  was  more  in  evidence,  there  were  more  military 
pageants,  the  people  were  more  ardent.  But  the  mili- 
tary leaders  of  the  French  included  no  such  inventor 
as  von  Moltke,  there  was  no  one  who  conceived  any 
such  ideas  as  were  pictured  in  Moltke's  imaginative 
brain;  and  consequently  it  never  occurred  to  anyone 
to  utilize  strenuously  all  the  new  inventions,  or  to  train 
officers  like  school  boys,  in  the  practical  problems  of 
war.  The  result  was  that  Moltke's  machine  got  into 
France  before  the  French  machine  had  been  even  put 
together.  The  pieces  of  the  French  machine  had  not 
been  got  together  even  when  the  war  ended.  When  war 
was  declared  by  France,  her  military  machine  was  in 
three  parts.  Two  of  them  got  together  fairly  quickly,  so 
that  the  French  machine  was  soon  divided  into  only  two 
parts;  one  under  Marshal  Bazaine,  and  the  other  under 
Marshal  McMahon.  But  Moltke's  machine  was  to- 
gether at  the  start,  and  it  stayed  together  throughout 
the  war.  This  does  not  mean  that  all  its  parts  stood 


— 


282  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

in  the  same  spot;  but  it  does  mean  that  the  parts  were 
always  in  supporting  distance  of  each  other.  The  two 
parts  of  the  French  machine  were  not  in  supporting 
distance  of  each  other,  and  the  German  machine  pre- 
vented them  from  uniting.  When  McMahon  and 
Bazaine  tried  to  unite,  McMahon  was  defeated  at 
.Worth,  and  Bazaine  at  Gravelotte.  McMahon  was 
forced  to  surrender  his  entire  force,  including  the 
emperor  at  Sedan;  and  Bazaine  was  shut  up  in  Metz. 
Paris  was  then  besieged.  Bazaine  was  soon  forced  to 
surrender  and  Paris  to  capitulate. 

The  main  immediate  result  was  the  establishment 
of  the  German  Empire.  A  later  result  was  the  estab- 
lishment of  what  is  sometimes  called  militarism.  Of 
the  two,  the  latter  was  probably  the  more  important  in 
future  consequences;  for  the  influence  of  Moltke's  con- 
ception of  military  preparedness  has  been  to  make  all 
civilized  nations  keep  up  enormous  and  highly  organ- 
ized military  and  naval  establishments,  under  pain  of 
being  caught  unprepared  for  war  and  beaten  to  sub- 
jection. 

\  The  German  Empire  has  vanished,  but  militarism 
has  not  vanished.  There  seem  to  be  no  signs  that  it 
will  soon  vanish,  for  it  is  simply  part  of  a  general  pre- 
paredness movement  that  embraces  many  fields  of  life, 
that  is  necessitated  by  the  existence  of  this  cumbrous 
Machine  of  Civilization,  and  that  is  advanced  by  the 
realization  that  everyone  must  cultivate  foresight. 
The  physicians  tell  us,  the  financiers  tell  us,  the  lawyers 
tell  us,  the  clergymen  tell  us,  even  the  business  men  of 
every  day  and  the  housewives  tell  us  that  we  must  con- 
tinually look  ahead  and  continually  prepare  to  meet 
what  may  be  coming.  Now  this  is  what  Militarism 
urges  as  applied  to  the  coming  of  war.  Militarism  is 
the  doctrine  of  preparedness  for  war;  it  holds  the  same 
relation  to  national  health  that  preventive  medicine 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE     283 

does  to  individual  health.  It  would  make  us  do  many 
unpleasant  things,  and  refrain  from  doing  many  pleas- 
ant things.  But  to  do  many  unpleasant  things  and  to 
refrain  from  doing  many  pleasant  things  is  necessary, 
in  order  to  lead  even  a  moderately  virtuous  and  pru- 
dent life.  Militarism  may  be  pushed  to  an  undue 
extreme;  but  so  may  any  course  of  conduct. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  note  that  Moltke  was  not 
an  ''opportunistic  inventor/'  like  most  men  of  action 
typified  by  Napoleon,  but  that  Bismarck  was.  Moltke 
made  inventions  of  a  permanent  nature,  but  Bismarck 
did  not.  Yet  Moltke  was  a  soldier  and  Bismarck  was 
a  statesman.  Bismarck's  German  Empire  has  already 
passed  away,  but  Moltke's  method  of  preparedness  is 
with  us  still,  and  is  gathering  more  and  more  prestige 
as  the  years  go  by.  Judged  by  the  standard  of  perma- 
nent achievement,  Moltke  was  a  greater  man  than 
Bismarck;  though  a  belief  to  the  contrary  was  held 
during  their  lifetimes,  and  is  generally  held  by  most 
men  now. 

In  1870,  Gramme  invented  the  famous  Gramme 
dynamo-electric  machine,  which  was  so  excellent  a  ma- 
chine for  producing  a  smooth  and  unidirectional  electric 
current,  that  it  gave  the  start  to  that  wonderful  succes- 
sion of  electrical  inventions  which  established  the  Age 
of  Electricity.  The  main  part  of  Gramme's  machine 
was  a  modification  of  the  Pacinnoti  ring,  invented  by 
Pacinnoti  in  1862,  which  seems  never  to  have  been 
put  to  practical  use,  and  never  to  have  been  heard  of 
by  Gramme.  The  Pacinnoti  ring  consisted  of  a  ring 
around  which  a  continuous  coil  of  wire  was  wound. 
This  ring  being  rotated  in  a  magnetic  field,  the  various 
parts  of  the  wire  at  any  instant  lay  at  different  angles 
to  the  lines  of  force,  instead  of  at  the  same  angle  to 
them,  as  was  the  case  with  the  flat  coil  of  previous 
dynamo  machines.  The  result  was  that  some  coil  was 


284  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

always  cutting  the  magnetic  lines-of- force  at  the  maxi- 
num  speed,  while  others  were  cutting  them  at  varying 
speeds,  down  to  zero;  so  that  the  aggregate  of  all  was 
approximately  the  same  at  all  instants.  The  result 
was  that  the  current  was  nearly  uniform  in  strength. 
The  influence  of  this  invention  on  subsequent  history 
need  hardly  be  pointed  out;  for  it  is  impressed  on  us 
every  day  and  every  night,  in  every  part  of  the  civilized 
world. 

In  the  same  epochal  year  that  ushered  in  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War  and  the  Gramme  machine,  the  Hyatts 
invented  celluloid.  The  invention  was  of  the  simplest 
character,  involving  mainly  the  compression  of  cam- 
phorated gun-cotton  by  hydraulic  or  other  force.  This 
was  not  a  great  invention,  but  a  useful  one;  making  it 
possible  to  fabricate  many  useful  articles  at  low  cost. 

In  the  following  year  of  1871,  Goodyear  invented 
his  welt  shoe-sewing  machine  and  Maddox  made  his 
epochal  discovery.  This  was  that  when  nitrate  of 
silver  was  added  to  a  solution  of  gelatine  in  water  con- 
taining a  soluble  bromide,  silver  bromide  was  formed, 
which  did  not  subside  even  after  long  standing; 
that  the  emulsion  could  be  made  quickly  and  in  large 
quantities,  and  that  by  thus  substituting  gelatine 
for  collodion  on  the  surface  of  glass  plates  used  in 
photography,  greater  sensitiveness,  and  therefore, 
greater  speed  could  be  obtained.  This  led  to  an  im- 
portant improvement,  and  paved  the  way  to  others, 
and  thus  became  the  basis  of  rapid  photography. 

By  1871  the  work  of  several  inventors  had  produced 
a  press  that  printed  an  endless  sheet  of  paper  on  both 
sides  and  folded  it  automatically.  In  the  same  year 
Ingersoll  invented  his  compressed  air  rock  drill.  In 
1872,  Lyall  invented  his  positive-motion  weaving  loom, 
and  Clerk  Maxwell  propounded  his  electro-magnetic 
theory  of  light.  According  to  this  theory,  luminous 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE      285 

and  electric  disturbances  are  the  same  in  kind,  the  same 
medium  transmits  both,  and  light  is  an  electro-magnetic 
phenomenon.  This  was  a  most  important  invention 
in  the  field  of  physical  science,  and  is  now  accepted 
by  the  majority  of  scientists.  It  is  not  so  applicable 
to  the  needs  of  men  at  the  present  moment  as  the  weav- 
ing loom;  but  in  the  future,  it  may  be  more  so. 

In  the  same  year,  Westinghouse  invented  an  im- 
provement on  his  original  air-brake  that  made  it  auto- 
matic under  some  conditions,  and  in  the  following  year 
Janney  invented  the  automatic  car-coupler.  Both  of 
these  were  brilliant  inventions,  though  not  nearly  so 
brilliant  as  Clerk  Maxwell's.  They  were  immeasur- 
ably more  important,  however,  from  the  standpoint  of 
material  contributions  to  the  Machine.  One  result 
was  that  the  inventors  were  immeasurably  more  re- 
warded in  a  material  way  than  was  that  great  mathe- 
matical physicist,  Clerk  Maxwell. 

In  the  same  year  of  Our  Lord,  1873,  Willis  invented 
his  platinotype  photographic  process,  in  which  finely  di- 
vided platinum  forms  an  image  virtually  permanent, 
and  Edison  invented  his  duplex  telegraph.  This  was 
the  first  of  those  wonderful  inventions  that  made 
Edison  famous;  and  it  embodied  possibly  as  brilliant 
an  idea  as  he  ever  conceived.  The  principle  was  ex- 
ceedingly simple,  and  consisted  merely  in  using  currents 
that  increased  in  strength  as  the  key  was  pressed  to 
actuate  an  ordinary  electro-magnet  for  one  message, 
and  using  currents  whose  direction  was  reversed  when 
the  key  was  pressed,  to  actuate  a  polarized  relay  for 
another  message.  By  combining  this  scheme  with  one 
long  before  proposed,  of  putting  the  receiving  instru- 
ments across  the  arms  of  a  Wheatstone  Bridge,  the 
entire  system  could  be  duplicated,  and  two  messages 
sent  at  the  same  time  in  each  direction.  This,  of 
course,  constituted  quadruplex  telegraphy. 


286  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

In  the  same  year,  Gorham  invented  the  twine-binder 
for  harvesters,  Bennett  improved  the  gelatine-bromide 
process  of  Maddox;  and  Locke  and  Wood  invented 
the  self-binding  reaper.  In  1874,  Glidden  and 
Vaughan  invented  a  machine  for  making  barbed  wire, 
and  Sir  William  Thomson  invented  his  super-excellent 
siphon-recorder  for  receiving  messages  over  the  Atlan- 
tic cable.  This  invention  combined  the  three  elements 
that  constitute  a  great  invention;  brilliancy  of  concep- 
tion, excellence  of  construction  and  concrete  product. 
It  was  of  immediate  usefulness  also,  which  a  great 
invention  may  not  necessarily  be.  But  Sir  William 
Thomson  was  a  "canny  Scot,"  a  good  mechanic,  and 
a  man  of  the  world,  as  well  as  a  mathematical  physicist 
of  the  highest  order;  with  the  result  that  even  on  his 
loftiest  flights,  he  held  tight  to  a  string  that  connected 
him  to  the  earth,  and  that  kept  his  flights  within  the 
regions  of  the  practical  and  immediate.  His  siphon- 
recorder  was  very  much  more  sensitive  to  electric  cur- 
rents than  any  recorder  ever  invented  before;  a  quality 
which  made  feebler  currents  utilizable,  decreased  induc- 
tion and  therefore  increased  speed.  Coming  when  it 
did,  and  coming  because  Sir  William  Thomson  saw 
a  need  for  it,  it  was  a  great  and  important  contribution 
to  submarine  telegraphy,  and  therefore  to  the  Machine; 
for  the  Machine  has  now  become  very  large  and  com- 
plicated, and  needed  the  best  possible  communication 
among  its  various  parts.  Some  of  these  parts  were 
far  distant  from  each  other. 

In  the  following  year,  1875,  Brown  invented  his 
cash-carrier.  This  was  not  so  brilliant  or  important 
an  invention  as  Sir  William  Thomson's;  but  it  can 
hardly  be  doubted  that  a  hundred  thousand  times  as 
many  cash-carriers  and  their  children,  cash-registers, 
have  been  made  as  siphon-recorders.  In  the  same 
year,  Lowe  invented  his  illuminating  water-gas;  Weg- 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE     287 

mann  his  roller  flour  mills ;  Smith  his  middlings  purifier 
for  flour;  and  Pictet  his  ice-machine.  The  last  four 
inventions  were  of  that  distinctly  practical  kind  that 
contribute  directly  to  the  operativeness  of  the  Machine, 
by  facilitating  the  conditions  of  living  in  large  com- 
munities, and  make  great  cities  possible.  Of  the  four, 
the  invention  of  Pictet  was  the  most  brilliant  and  scien- 
tific, and  the  least  directly  useful. 

In  1876,  Bell  made  an  invention  that  is  usually  con- 
ceded to  be  the  most  important  of  modern  times,  and 
that  was  also  of  the  highest  order  of  brilliancy  of  con- 
ception, excellence  of  construction  and  concreteness  of 
result.  The  invention  was  that  of  the  speaking  tele- 
phone. 

The  telephone  is  not  in  the  class  with  the  actual 
doers  of  things,  like  the  weaving  machine  and  the  gun, 
but  rather  in  the  class  with  the  telegraph  and  the  type- 
writer, in  being  an  assistant  to  the  doers  of  things :  that 
is,  it  is  an  instrument  rather  than  a  machine.  This 
does  not  mean  that  a  machine  is  more  important  than 
an  instrument,  though  possibly  machines  have  done 
more  work  directly  in  furthering  civilization  than  in- 
struments have.  A  machine  does  something  itself; 
an  instrument  is  a  means  or  agency  or  implement  with 
which  men  do  something.  As  a  class,  machines  have 
probably  been  more  directly  useful  than  instruments; 
but  this  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  any  machine 
that  one  may  name  has  been  more  useful  than  any 
instrument.  A  machine  (generally  speaking)  does 
only  one  class  of  work;  the  sewing-machine,  for  in- 
stance, does  no  work  save  sewing;  while  such  an  instru- 
ment as  the  telephone  is  an  aid  to  men  in  directing 
the  work  of  thousands  of  machines. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that,  in  the  broad  mean- 
ing of  the  word  instrument,  every  machine  that  does 
actual  work  is  an  instrument  in  the  hands  of  men  for 


288  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

doing  that  work;  but  that  every  instrument  is  not 
necessarily  a  machine.  A  machine,  by  definition,  is 
composed  of  various  parts  that  work  together  to  a 
common  end,  and  it  carries  with  it  the  ideas  of  move- 
ment and  of  power.  An  instrument,  on  the  other  hand, 
need  not  be  composed  of  more  than  one  part;  it  may 
of  itself  be  incapable  of  moving  or  exerting  power;  and 
yet,  in  the  hands  of  men  and  women,  it  may  be  the 
means  of  doing  the  most  useful  work.  A  familiar 
illustration  among  many  is  the  needle. 

Now  the  telephone  can  hardly  be  called  a  machine : 
it  can  of  itself  do  nothing.  It  is  not  like  an  engine  that 
can  do  work  hour  after  hour,  without  external  inter- 
position, supervision  or  assistance.  Yet,  for  the  rea- 
son that  the  only  value  of  a  machine  lies  in  the  fact  that 
it  is  an  instrument  whereby  men  can  get  results,  an 
instrument  is  not  necessarily  in  a  lower  class  than  a 
machine. 

The  essential  value  of  the  telephone  seems  to  lie 
in  the  fact  that  the  Machine  has  become  so  compli- 
cated, and  composed  of  so  many  separate  parts,  that, 
without  the  telephone,  those  parts  would  not  be  ade- 
quately linked  together.  The  telephone,  like  the  tele- 
graph, acts  in  the  Machine  of  Civilization  as  do  the 
nerves  in  the  human  organism.  The  human  organism 
could  not  be  an  organism  without  the  nervous  system; 
and  the  present  Machine  could  not  exist  in  its  present 
form  without  the  telegraph  and  the  telephone.  These 
two  instruments  have  so  greatly  improved  the  Machine 
as  to  raise  it  toward  the  dignity  of  an  organism.  They 
have  not  made  it  an  organism,  because  they  have  not 
endowed  it  with  life.  They  have,  however,  raised  it 
to  the  dignity  of  an  automatic  machine,  by  supplying 
such  a  ready  and  sure  means  of  conveying  information 
and  instructions,  that  a  blow  to  the  Machine  anywhere 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE      289 

is  felt  everywhere,  and  assistance  to  the  part  attacked 
can  be  summoned  from  everywhere. 

Illustrations  of  this  can  be  seen  the  most  clearly  in 
our.  large  cities,  in  which  information  concerning  a  fire, 
or  a  riot,  or  an  accident  is  transmitted  instantly  to  all 
parts  of  the  city;  and  fire  engines,  police  or  ambulances 
are  sent  in  response  thereto.  Illustrations  covering 
wider  fields  come  to  mind  at  once;  but  they  are  of  the 
same  character,  whether  the  fields  comprise  single 
states  or  continents  or  seas,  or  the  whole  surface  of 
the  earth.  Possibly  the  best  single  illustration  is  that 
supplied  by  the  events  of  the  recent  World  War,  in 
which  the  nerves  of  civilization  in  every  land  were  kept 
on  the  tingle  by  the  news  continually  received  from  the 
fighting  fronts,  and  measures  were  continually  taken 
to  meet  each  situation  as  it  occurred.  Australia  and 
New  Zealand  and  America  and  Canada  and  South 
Africa  assisted  France  to  repel  the  invader  from  her 
soil. 

The  influence  of  the  telephone  on  history  has  been 
so  great  that  history  would  not  be  at  all  as  it  has  been, 
if  the  telephone  had  not  been  born.  Has  this  influence 
been  beneficent?  Probably,  because  it  has  tied  the 
parts  of  the  Machine  together,  and  made  it  more 
coherent.  But  it  may  be  well  to  realize  that  this  very 
fact  has  had  the  effect  of  permitting  other  additions  to 
the  Machine;  with  the  result  that  the  Machine  is  per- 
haps no  more  coherent  now  than  it  was  when  the  tele- 
phone was  added  to  it.  Furthermore,  we  must  not 
forget  that,  although  the  influence  of  each  new  inven- 
tion is  usually  to  assist  civilization  rather  than  to  assist 
its  enemies,  yet  we  cannot  assume  that  100%  is  exerted 
on  that  side,  for  a  considerable  percentage  is  always 
exerted  on  the  other  side.  For  instance,  the  printing 
press  is  used  to  disseminate  harmful  teachings,  as  well 


290  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

as  beneficent  teachings,  the  telephone  is  used  for  bad 
purposes  as  well  as  good  ones,  etc. 

We  must  not  restrict  our  appreciation  of  the  in- 
fluence of  the  telephone  by  ignoring  the  stimulation 
which  it  has  given  to  study  and  experiment,  especially 
in  the  physical  sciences.  People  of  the  present  day 
do  not  realize  the  amazement  and  excitement  caused 
throughout  the  world  by  the  sudden  realization  of  the 
fact  that  human  speech  could  be  transmitted.  Coming 
as  it  did  so  soon  after  the  invention  of  the  Gramme 
dynamo,  it  waked  the  minds  of  men  with  a  sudden 
start,  and  opened  a  dazzling  avenue  of  anticipation  of 
discoveries  and  inventions  yet  to  come.  Young  men, 
and  especially  young  men  of  fine  ambition,  saw  ahead  a 
clear  line  of  useful  and  brilliant  work;  and  the  colleges 
and  technical  schools  were  soon  thronged  with  eager 
youth.  A  new  epoch — the  electric  epoch — was  at 
hand. 

The  most  generally  noticed  herald  of  the  new  epoch 
was  not  the  telephone,  however,  but  the  "electric 
candle"  invented  by  Jablochkoff  in  1876,  which  soon 
afterward  came  into  use  in  Paris.  This  candle  con- 
sisted of  two  parallel  sticks  of  carbon  separated  by  an 
insulating  substance,  made  of  some  refractory  material, 
that  fuzed  as  the  carbons  gradually  burned  away.  The 
two  carbons  were  connected  to  an  electric  circuit  that 
passed  from  the  tip  of  one  carbon  to  the  tip  of  the 
other,  causing  a  brilliant  electric  arc.  To  prevent  one 
carbon  wasting  away  more  rapidly  than  the  other,  an 
alternating  current  was  employed.  This  great  inven- 
tion is  now  almost  forgotten,  because  it  was  soon  sup- 
planted by  the  present  arc-light  that  is  better  in  many 
ways.  Nevertheless,  to  Jablochkoff  must  be  accorded 
the  distinction  of  being  the  first  to  make  electric  light- 
ing on  a  large  scale  practicable,  and  to  demonstrate 
the  fact. 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE      291 

In  the  same  year,  an  invention  of  more  than  doubt- 
ful beneficence  was  made,  a  machine  for  continuously 
making  cigarettes;  but  this  was  balanced  in  the  same 
year  by  the  inventions  of  the  steam  saw-mill  and  of 
Portland  cement. 

In  the  following  year  came  an  invention  fully  as 
brilliant  as  the  telephone,  though  not  so  useful,  the 
phonograph.  It  is  usually  considered  as  more  bril- 
liant; certainly  it  was  more  unexpected.  The  idea  of 
transmitting  speech  was  very  old,  many  men  had 
worked  on  it,  and  many  were  working  on  it  at  the  time 
when  Bell  accomplished  it;  but  the  idea  of  recording 
speech  was  almost  undreamed  of.  Up  to  the  present 
moment,  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  the  phonograph  has 
had  great  influence  on  history;  for  its  main  work  has 
been  in  giving  pleasure  by  the  music  it  has  rendered. 
We  can  easily  imagine  the  present  Machine,  without 
the  phonograph,  but  not  without  the  telephone. 

And  we  cannot  imagine  the  present  Machine  to  exist 
without  the  gas  engine,  invented  the  same  year  by  Dr. 
Otto,  that  made  possible  the  use  of  large  units  of 
mechanical  power,  without  the  need  of  boilers  or  con- 
densers or  other  external  appliances;  for  the  combus- 
tion of  the  fuel  was  carried  on  inside  the  engine  itself. 
This  invention  has  been  followed  by  many  others  dur- 
ing the  forty-five  years  that  have  since  gone  by,  in 
which  oil  has  taken  the  place  of  gas.  Petrol  or  gaso- 
lene has  been  the  oil  (or  spirit)  most  used;  but  engines 
of  the  Deisel  type,  employing  heavy  oils,  have  now 
come  into  being  in  large  numbers. 

It  is  easy  to  underestimate  the  influence  of  the  gas- 
engine,  or  oil-engine  (usually  called  the  internal  com- 
bustion engine),  as  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  most 
people  do  so;  despite  the  evidence  of  its  importance 
on  all  sides,  in  the  shape  of  submarine  vessels,  auto- 
mobiles and  similar  vehicles.  Its  most  important 


292  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

single  effect  has  been  to  make  possible  the  aeroplane, 
and  all  the  science  and  art  of  aviation,  and  the  conse- 
quent conquest  of  the  air. 

In  the  same  year  of  1877,  Edison  made  his  great 
invention,  the  carbon  telephone  transmitter,  which  in- 
creased enormously  the  effect  of  the  voice  in  varying 
the  resistance  of  a  telephone  circuit,  and  thereby  in- 
creased the  loudness  of  telephone  speech.  In  the  same 
year,  Berliner  invented  the  induction  transmitter,  which 
consisted  of  a  primary  coil  of  small  resistance  in  cir- 
cuit with  the  transmitter  and  the  secondary  coil  con- 
nected to  the  outside  circuit.  These  two  inventions, 
added  to  Bell's  original  invention,  made  the  telephone 
of  today — in  its  essential  features. 

In  1878,  Edison  produced  his  incandescent  lamp,  in 
which  a  carbon  filament,  enclosed  in  a  bulb  exhausted  of 
air,  was  heated  to  incandescence  by  an  electric  current. 
The  importance  of  this  invention  need  hardly  be  even 
mentioned.  As  to  the  originality  of  the  conception, 
there  are  many  opinions;  for  several  experimenters  had 
been  working  in  this  field,  and  many  brilliant  results  had 
been  achieved.  Important  as  this  invention  was,  we 
can  imagine  the  Machine  to  exist  without  it,  though  not 
in  quite  so  perfect  and  complete  a  form.  Its  main  use 
is  its  obvious  use ;  though  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the 
improvement  it  wrought  in  the  conditions  of  comfort- 
able living,  and  the  attractions  it  offered  to  ambitious 
youths  enlisted  a  large  army  in  the  study  of  the  physical 
sciences,  gave  impetus  to  all  the  mechanic  arts,  and 
assisted  in  many  important  ways  the  upbuilding  of  the 
Machine. 

In  1879,  Appleby  invented  the  automatic  grain- 
binder,  and  Sir  William  Crookes  made  his  epochal  dis- 
covery of  cathode  rays.  This  discovery,  like  many 
others  of  a  highly  scientific  character,  was  not  of  im- 
mediate practical  value ;  consisting  as  it  did  in  the  fact 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE      293 

that  if  the  poles  of  the  secondary  circuit  of  a  Rhum- 
korff  coil  were  connected  to  the  two  ends  of  a  glass  tube 
from  which  nearly  all  the  air  (or  other  gas)  had  been 
exhausted,  a  stream  of  electrified  particles  was  pro- 
jected from  the  cathode,  or  negative  pole.  These 
particles  were  evidently  projected  with  great  violence; 
for  if  they  struck  the  side  of  the  tube,  they  produced  a 
brilliant  illumination  there ;  while  if  they  struck  a  piece 
of  metal  they  developed  heat.  If  the  metal  were  suf- 
ficiently thin,  it  was  melted.  Later  study  of  these 
cathode  rays  developed  the  fact  that  the  stream  of 
charged  particles  could  be  deflected  by  magnetic  and 
electric  fields,  thus  showing  that  they  had  actual  physi- 
cal mass;  and  still  later  studies  resulted  in  that  mass 
being  determined,  and  also  the  amount  of  the  electric 
charges  on  them.  To  an  individual  particle  the  name 
electron  was  given;  and  the  interesting  fact  developed 
that  the  mass  of  an  electron  is  only  about  one-thou- 
sandth that  of  an  atom  of  hydrogen. 

This  is  not  very  exciting  news  to  men  whose  time  is 
consumed  in  the  engrossing  occupation  of  earning  a 
living;  but  scientific  facts  have  a  curious  habit  of  lurk- 
ing in  the  background,  sometimes  a  long  while,  and 
then  suddenly  stepping  up  to  the  footlights  in  the  form 
of  facts  or  inventions  of  a  kind  that  are  exceedingly 
important, — even  from  the  standpoint  of  making  a  liv- 
ing, or  at  least  of  enduring  the  conditions  of  living. 
The  study  of  electrons,  for  instance  led  the  way  to  the 
discovery  of  the  beneficent  X-rays,  made  in  1895  by 
Rontgen. 

The  first  electric  railways,  like  the  first  railways  of 
any  kind,  were  laid  in  mines;  for  the  superiority  of 
electricity  over  steam  for  use  in  the  unventilated  spaces 
of  mines  was  obviously  greater  than  in  the  open  spaces 
on  the  surface.  The  first  one  was  in  the  mines  at 
Zankerode  in  Germany  and  was  constructed  by  the 


294  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

famous  Siemens  Brothers.  The  first  electric  surface 
railway  was  built  at  Berlin  in  1879.  It  was  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  yards  in  length,  and  laid  upon  wooden, 
sleepers;  an  auxiliary  rail  being  fixed  midway  between 
the  two  main  rails.  The  auxiliary  rail  carried  the 
electric  current,  which  was  taken  off  by  a  brush  con- 
nected to  the  electric  motor  on  the  car,  from  which  it 
went  to  the  rails  that  acted  as  the  "return."  The 
similarity  between  this  system  and  that  now  used  in 
all  our  cities  is  striking,  and  shows  how  practically  and 
scientifically  good  the  first  electric  railway  was. 

To  estimate  correctly  the  influence  of  the  invention 
of  the  electric  railway  would  be,  of  course,  impossible, 
especially  on  partially  developed  countries;  for  the  elec- 
tric railway  assisted  greatly  in  developing  them.  It 
seems  possible,  however,  that  the  electric  railway  may 
be  of  not  very  long  life,  for  the  reason  that  the  internal- 
combustion-engine  possesses  the  same  great  advantage 
of  smokelessness  that  the  electric  motor  does  and 
makes  possible  the  use  of  a  much  simpler  system  than 
electric  railways  necessitate.  The  fact  that  any  inven- 
tion is  displaced  by  a  later  one  does  not,  of  course, 
detract  from  the  merit  of  the  invention  displaced,  in 
having  supplied  the  needed  stepping-stone  for  the  other 
one  to  rise  from. 

In  the  same  year,  Foy  invented  the  steam  plow,  and 
Lee  invented  his  magazine  rifle.  In  the  following  year 
(1880)  Blake  invented  his  telephone  transmitter,  an 
improvement  of  a  practical  character  over  preceding 
ones,  Greener  invented  his  hammerless  gun,  and  Faure 
invented  his  electric  storage  battery. 

The  Faure  storage  battery  was  a  very  important 
invention,  but  not  nearly  so  important  a  one  as  was 
at  first  supposed.  It  was  an  improvement  on  Plante's 
battery,  and  consisted  mainly  in  applying  red  lead  and 
litharge  directly  to  the  positive  and  negative  lead 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE     295 

plates,  before  sending  any  charging  current  through 
the  liquid;  thus  expediting  the  making  of  the  battery 
very  greatly.  The  invention  was  hailed  with  extrava- 
gant rejoicings,  even  Sir  William  Thomson  being  car- 
ried away  from  his  habitual  equanimity;  but  serious 
practical  difficulties  soon  developed  that  are  familiar  to 
most  of  us,  and  that  have  never  yet  been  overcome. 

In  1880,  Koch  and  Eberth  isolated  the  typhoid 
bacillus,  and  Sternberg  the  pneumonia  bacillus.  The 
importance  of  these  two  discoveries  is  not  usually  ap- 
preciated by  any  but  physicians  and  those  who  have 
suffered  from  these  diseases  and  been  cured.  Even 
those  who  have  been  saved  from  having  them,  especial- 
ly those  in  armies  who  have  been  saved  from  having 
typhoid  fever,  fail  to  realize  their  debt.  But  the  al- 
most perfect  immunity  from  typhoid  fever  enjoyed  by 
all  the  enormous  armies  of  the  vast  World  War,  com- 
pared with  the  frightful  distress  and  mortality  caused 
by  typhoid  fever  in  previous  wars,  bears  eloquent  wit- 
ness to  the  influence  of  the  great  discoveries  of  those 
tireless  investigators. 

It  may  be  pointed  out  here  that  of  all  the  inventions 
and  discoveries  ever  made,  those  made  in  medical  and 
surgical  science,  especially  in  preventive  measures,  have 
had  more  direct  and  immediate  influence  on  history 
than  contemporary  inventions  in  any  other  field,  save 
possibly  religion.  For  what  is  history  but  the  life- 
story  of  the  human  race;  and  what  greater  influence 
can  be  had  than  influence  upon  the  health  of  its  com- 
ponent members?  The  discoveries  and  inventions 
made  in  the  field  of  bacteriology  especially,  by  gaining 
knowledge  concerning  the  unseen  and  unheard  foes 
that  attack  us  from  within,  have  lifted  civilized  man 
up  to  a  condition  of  cleanliness  and  purity,  in  compari- 
son with  which  the  conditions  under  which  our  fore- 
fathers lived  seem  almost  repulsive. 


296  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

It  is  true  that  many  of  these  conditions  were  out- 
comes of  civilization  itself,  and  that  for  some  of  them 
medicine  has  merely  found  the  antidotes.  Yet  the 
fact  that  medicine  has  found  antidotes  shows  that 
medicine  has  been  keeping  pace  with  progress  and  has 
invented  measures  for  preventing  the  Machine  from 
poisoning  itself  by  a  sort  of  auto-intoxication.  That 
the  Machine  is  in  danger  of  disruption  by  outside  and 
inside  forces  has  been  suggested  frequently  in  this  book; 
so  that  what  seems  to  be  indicated  as  desirable  is  a 
series  of  discoveries  and  inventions  that  will  prevent 
it.  But,  in  attempting  this,  we  must  not  forget  that 
each  new  discovery  or  invention  adds  another  part, 
that  safety  devices  are  sometimes  so  intricate  as  to 
increase  the  danger  element  rather  than  lessen  or  pre- 
vent it,  and  that  safety  appliances  themselves  are  apt 
to  get  out  of  order,  and  thus  lead  to  a  false  sense  of 
security.  These  reflections  force  on  our  attention  the 
fallibility  of  the  human,  the  necessity  for  continuous 
study  of  all  situations  as  they  successively  develop,  and 
the  solemn  fact  that  progress  is  not  beneficial  of  itself; 
for  it  may  be  in  the  wrong  direction. 

One  obvious  fact  that  we  have  always  realized, 
startles  each  one  of  us  occasionally;  the  fact  that  "peo- 
ple do  not  know  what  is  good  for  them."  The  appe- 
tites and  instincts  of  undomesticated  brutes  are  said  to 
be  much  more  trustworthy  as  guides  than  those  of 
domesticated  brutes  and  human  beings.  We,  by  culti- 
vating our  imaginations  and  reasoning  powers,  and  the 
brutes  by  being  given  food  and  shelter  that  they  them- 
selves do  not  have  to  get,  seem  to  have  lost  a  consider- 
able part  of  the  instinctive  abilities  with  which  we  were 
originally  blessed.  With  human  beings,  many  objects 
that  most  of  us  aim  for  are  extremely  artificial,  and 
some  of  them  are  extremely  harmful.  An  illustration 
is  the  craving,  for  much  food  and  little  physical  labor, — 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE     297 

a  craving  that  is  gratified  almost  at  once  by  most  people 
suddenly  achieving  wealth,  with  consequences  that  are 
always  deplorable  and  are  frequently  distressing. 

Of  course  this  comes  from  excessive  yielding  to  our 
appetites;  but  the  brutes  seem  to  feel  no  temptation  to 
excessive  yielding;  an  undomesticated  brute  seems  to 
know  when  he  has  had  enough.  We  not  only  yield, 
we  go  further  and  force  our  appetites.  Possibly  this 
is  only  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  our  minds  have  a 
sort  of  inertia,  comparable  to  the  inertia  of  physical 
objects;  so  that  when  we  move  in  any  direction,  we 
are  apt  to  go  too  far.  That  it  is  a  tendency  of  human 
nature  to  go  too  far  in  any  line  of  conduct,  when  once 
it  is  entered  on,  the  facts  of  daily  life  continually  testify. 
What  reformer  in  public  or  private  life  ever  knew 
when  to  stop ;  what  money  maker  ever  realized  that  he 
had  enough  money  and  ceased  his  efforts  to  get  more  ? 
A  small  percentage  have,  but  only  a  small  percentage. 

For  this  reason  and  others,  the  human  machine  and 
the  Machine  of  Civilization  do  not  get  along  together 
as  harmoniously  as  might  be  wished.  Though  many 
inventions,  especially  the  basic  ones,  have  been  actually 
uncontrollable  acts  of  self-expression,  many  others  have 
been  inspired  by  motives  largely  selfish,  such  as  the 
wish  to  gain  fame,  or  power  or  money  (or  fame  and 
power  and  money)  ;  and  the  result  is  a  Machine  that 
contributes  more  to  man's  material  well-being  than  to 
his  moral,  mental  or  spiritual  well-being,  and  a  con- 
sequent civilization  that  is  necessarily  artificial.  The 
net  effect,  however  (unless  all  our  standards  are 
wrong),  has  been  beneficial;  for  it  cannot  truthfully  be 
denied  that  physically,  mentally,  morally  and  spiritual- 
ly, the  civilized  man  is  better  than  the  savage,  and  to 
a  degree  commensurate  with  the  degree  to  which  he 
is  civilized. 

Probably  most  civilized  men  would  agree  to  this 


298       |g  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

proposition.  Probably  most  of  them  would  also  agree 
that  civilization  brings  its  evil  influences  as  well  as  its 
good  influences,  that  the  Machine  has  been  found  vul- 
nerable to  destructive  influences  in  the  past,  that  the 
ultimate  effect  must  be  judged  from  its  influences  on 
human  beings,  and  that  the  most  beneficent  inventions 
and  discoveries  have  been  those  that  tend  to  the  safety 
of  the  Machine  itself  and  the  spiritual,  moral,  mental 
and  physical  health  of  the  individual  humans  who  com- 
prise its  principal  parts.  They  will  therefore  applaud 
such  discoveries  as  those  of  Eberth,  Koch  and  Stern- 
berg  of  1880,  and  also  another  one  of  Koch  and  one 
of  Pasteur  two  years  later.  Both  of  these  benefactors 
then  isolated  deadly  microbes  of  disease :  Koch  the 
bacillus  of  tuberculosis,  and  Pasteur  that  of  hydro- 
phobia. 

In  1881,  Reece  invented  a  button-hole  machine  and 
Schmid  a  hand  photographic  camera.  Both  of  these 
were  useful  inventions  if  not  brilliant.  It  would  be 
interesting  to  know  the  amounts  of  money  realized  by 
their  inventors,  compared  with  the  amounts  received 
by  Koch,  Pasteur  and  Sternberg.  In  1884,  by  the  way, 
Koch  made  another  epoch-making  and  beneficent  dis- 
covery, and  isolated  the  bacillus  of  cholera.  Loeffler 
did  the  same  thing,  in  the  same  year  for  diphtheria,  and 
Nicolaier  for  lockjaw;  while  Kuno  produced  anti- 
pyrene. 

In  reflecting  on  what  these  great  men  accomplished, 
it  is  interesting  to  point  out  to  ourselves  that  the  con- 
sensus of  opinion  seems  to  be  that,  for  most  people, 
"the  pursuit  of  happiness"  is  the  main  business  of  life. 
Whether  this  ought  to  be  or  not,  should  not  distract 
our  attention  from  the  fact  that  it  really  is.  To  most 
of  us — at  least  to  those  of  us  who  are  young — happi- 
ness seems  to  lie  in  the  thing  pursued,  provided  the  pur- 
suit succeeds.  We  all  seek  the  crock  of  gold  at  the  end 


THE    MODERN    MILITARY    MACHINE      299 

of  the  rainbow,  and  imagine  that  if  we  get  it,  we  shall 
get  the  summum  bonum  of  everything  —  happiness. 
Yet  all  one  has  to  do  is  to  remember  how  happy  he  was 
one  day  when  he  was  feeling  well  physically,  morally, 
mentally  and  spiritually  (as  we  all  have  at  rare  inter- 
vals), to  realize  that  happiness  is  merely  a  condition, — 
and  that  it  is  a  condition  that  depends  more  on  the 
condition  of  his  own  machine  than  on  all  other  things 
put  together.  When  one  observes  the  action  of  a 
fine  trotting  horse,  the  smooth  and  noiseless  motion  of 
a  large  steam-engine,  or  the  majestic  setting  of  the  sun; 
or  when  he  hears  the  harmonies  of  some  great  musical 
composer,  or  the  grander  harmonies  of  the  ocean- 
breakers  on  the  beach;  or  when  he  ponders  on  the 
inconceivably  swift  but  God-like  regularity  of  the  stars 
and  planets,  he  may  get  a  faint  and  brief  conception  of 
what  it  means  for  a  machine  to  be  in  order.  Our  hu- 
man machines  are  rarely  in  this  condition :  but  some- 
times, without  any  assignable  cause  whatever,  one  takes 
a  deep,  full  breath,  and  says,  "It  is  good  to  live." 

The  men  just  spoken  of,  and  the  great  teachers  of 
truth  in  all  ages,  in  even  a  higher  degree,  admonish  us 
to  keep  our  machines  in  order,  and  tell  us  how  to  do  it. 

How  not  to  do  it,  the  world  and  the  flesh  and  the 
devil  tell  us  unceasingly;  beguiling  us,  as  the  serpent 
beguiled  Eve,  to  eat;  to  gratify  one  and  all  the  appe- 
tites of  the  senses,  regardless  of  the  effect  on  the  ma- 
chine inside.  For  we  know  those  senses  ought  to 
guard  our  intake  valves,  but  do  not. 

Why  cannot  some  one  invent  a  device  that  will  auto- 
matically regulate  our  intake  valves?  Such  an  inven- 
tion would  prevent  us  from  eating  too  much,  drinking 
too  much,  and  smoking  too  much,  and  also  from  eating, 
drinking  and  smoking  things  detrimental  to  the  ma- 
chine, and  injurious  to  our  happiness;  and  even  from 
taking  in  sights  and  sounds  and  thoughts  of  an  un- 


300  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

healthful  kind.  This  might  be  followed  by  another 
invention  that  would  regulate  our  outgo  valves,  and 
put  a  brake  on  our  speech,  our  ambition,  our  acquisi- 
tiveness, etc.  But  would  not  these  take  from  us  our 
God-granted  free  will?  Yes,  in  great  measure.  But 
such  is  the  effect  of  the  Machine  of  Civilization.  The 
primeval  savage  lived — (and  the  primeval  savage  still 
lives)  in  a  condition  of  almost  perfect  liberty,  as  do 
the  beasts  that  perish :  but  in  the  vast  Machine  of 
Civilization,  we  are  only  tiny  parts.  Each  of  us,  it 
is  true,  has  a  little  freedom  of  motion;  but  it  is  like  the 
"lost  motion"  of  a  loose  part  in  a  crude  or  ill-con- 
structed engine ;  and  it  seems  to  be  growing  smaller  and 
smaller,  as  the  Machine  grows  larger  and  improves. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE   CONQUEST   OF   THE   ETHER— MOVING 

PICTURES— RISE   OF    JAPAN    AND   THE 

UNITED    STATES 

IN  1884,  Mergenthaler  invented  the  linotype  ma- 
chine, in  which  matrixes  for  casting  different  type 
were  moved  successively  into  line,  by  pressing  the 
corresponding  alphabetically  marked  keys  on  a  key- 
board, and  the  whole  line  then  moved  to  the  casting 
mechanism  and  cast.  This  was  an  invention  of  the 
most  clean-cut  and  perfect  character;  following  clearly 
the  processes  of  conception,  development  and  produc- 
tion, and  resulting  in  an  improvement  in  the  art  of 
printing  of  a  most  important  kind.  Few  inventions 
embody  such  a  brilliant  and  original  conception,  such 
excellent  constructiveness  and  such  a  useful  product. 
So  perfect  was  the  result,  and  so  clear  was  the  con- 
ception that  preceded  it,  that  one  marvels  that  some  one 
had  not  invented  it  before.  Why  make  matrixes  for 
type,  then  cast  the  type,  then  space  the  type  individually 
one  after  the  other  in  line,  and  then  stereotype  them  as 
they  stand  in  line,  when  it  is  so  much  easier  simply  to 
place  the  matrixes  in  line  and  then  stereotype  the 
matrixes?  The  influence  of  this  invention  is  of  the 
same  kind  as  the  influence  of  the  invention  of  the  art 
of  printing  from  movable  type,  because  it  is  an  im- 
provement in  that  art.  All  over  the  world  this  inven- 
tion, or  inventions  suggested  by  it,  are  used  by  the 
newspaper  and  book  publishers,  with  the  result  that 
the  quickness  and  accuracy  of  printing  are  much  en- 

301 


302  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

hanced,  and  the  work  of  co-operating  the  parts  of  the 
Machine  thereby  facilitated. 

In  the  same  year  Marble  increased  the  safety  of  the 
bicycle  by  his  invention  of  the  rear-driven  chain,  and 
Schultz  invented  his  chrome  process  of  tanning  leather. 
Both  of  these  were  important  in  their  way;  but  in 
1885  Cowles  made  a  more  important  invention,  that 
of  reducing  (and  thereby  producing)  the  metal  alumi- 
num from  its  oxide,  called  alumina,  the  chief  con- 
stituent of  clay.  The  usefulness  of  aluminum  lies 
largely  in  its  extreme  lightness,  and  in  the  fact  that 
when  combined  with  certain  metals,  notably  copper,  it 
forms  important  alloys. 

During  the  same  year,  Welsbach  invented  his  gas 
mantle,  a  valuable  contribution  to  gas-lighting,  and 
Bowers  invented  his  hydraulic  dredge,  in  which  the 
act  of  dredging  a  channel  or  harbor  was  accomplished 
by  hydraulic  power.  In  the  same  year,  Van  Depoele 
invented  a  practical  contact  appliance  for  use  in  taking 
off  the  current  from  the  overhead  wires  of  electric  rail- 
ways. In  1886,  Bell  and  Tainter  invented  the  graph- 
ophone,  an  important  improvement  on  the  phonograph, 
and  Elihu  Thompson  invented  electric  welding.  This 
was  an  epochal  invention,  inaugurating  as  it  did  an 
entirely  new  art,  and  contributing  enormously  not  only 
to  the  quickness  of  welding,  but  to  its  accuracy  and 
strength.  Many  improvements  have  been  made  on 
this  invention  during  the  past  few  years,  that  have 
increased  its  scope  and  value.  Many  articles  are  now 
made  in  one  piece  that  is  really  solid,  though  composed 
of  several  parts :  for  those  parts  are  so  firmly  welded 
together  that  the  joints  cannot  be  seen  and  are  as 
strong  as  any  other  parts. 

In  the  same  year,  Matteson  invented  his  combined 
harvester  and  thresher.  In  the  following  year,  Pres- 
cott  invented  his  band  wood  saw,  and  McArthur  and 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   ETHER  303 

Forrest  invented  their  process  of  extracting  metals 
(especially  gold  and  silver)  from  ores  by  the  use  of  a 
solution  of  potassium  cyanide,  and  greatly  cheapened 
the  work.  In  the  same  year,  Tesla  invented  his  system 
of  multi-phase  electric  currents,  which  rendered  possi- 
ble the  economical  transmission  of  power  over  long 
distances,  of  which  the  first  use  was  made  in  transmit- 
ting power  derived  from  Niagara  Falls.  This  was 
another  invention  of  the  first  order  of  merit  in  bril- 
liancy and  originality  of  conception,  excellence  of 
constructiveness  and  usefulness  of  result.  Its  value 
has  been  only  dimly  appreciated  by  most  men,  because 
the  invention  does  not  stand  continually  before  our 
eyes,  like  the  telephone  and  electric  light;  for  it  can- 
not be  seen  at  all.  It  is  not  a  machine  or  instrument 
(in  the  common  use  of  those  words)  but  a  system, 
actually  invisible  of  itself,  that  governs  the  method  of 
design,  construction  and  operation  of  the  visible  dyna- 
mos, motors  and  conductors.  Like  the  germ  of  life, 
we  see  not  it,  but  only  its  manifestations. 

In  the  same  year,  Welsbach  brought  out  an  im- 
provement on  his  incandescent  gas-mantle  that  was 
valuable  for  cases  in  which  a  brilliant  illumination  was 
desired,  that  leaped  almost  immediately  into  public 
favor.  In  the  following  year  of  1888,  Sprague  made 
the  first  installation  of  street  electric  railways  in  the 
United  States,  and  the  first  in  the  world  in  which  the 
conditions  of  operating  were  difficult.  The  success  of 
Sprague's  system  was  largely  due  to  the  excellence  of 
Sprague's  electric  motor,  which  had  the  curious  prop- 
erty of  being  designed  on  principles  which  the  scien- 
tific men  of  those  days  declared  to  be  wholly  wrong. 
Sprague's  reputation  rests  mainly  on  his  electric  rail- 
way; but,  from  the  standpoint  of  the  inventor, 
Sprague's  invention  of  his  electric  motor  was  of  a 
higher  order  than  that  of  his  electric  railway. 


304  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

In  1888,  Harvey  invented  his  process  of  making 
armor-plate.  In  the  same  year,  Eastman  and  Walker 
invented  the  kodak  camera,  in  which  the  novelty  con- 
sisted mainly  of  a  continuous  roll  of  sensitized  film, 
on  which  photographs  could  be  successively  made ;  and 
De  Chardonnet  invented  his  process  of  manufacturing 
artificial  silk  from  threads  that  were  made  by  forcing 
collodion  through  very  small  holes.  These  were  im- 
portant in  fact;  but  in  comparison  with  the  discoveries 
in  the  realm  of  the  actual  ether  made  in  the  same  year 
by  Hertz,  they  were  quite  trifling. 

These  discoveries  resulted  from  experiments  with 
electric  apparatus  of  the  simplest  and  most  inexpensive 
character,  in  a  space  near  which  sparks  were  passing 
between  the  two  terminals  of  a  Rhumkorff  coil.  It  had 
been  known  before  that  each  spark  accompanied  and 
therefore  represented  an  establishment  of  equilibrium 
between  the  two  oppositely  charged  terminals,  and  that 
each  discharge  was  of  an  oscillatory  character — as  any 
readjustment  of  equilibrium  always  is.  By  means  of 
a  mere  single  wire,  curved  into  a  circle,  except  that  the 
two  ends  were  not  quite  joined,  Hertz  discovered  that 
the  space  was  filled  with  electric  waves  that  were  propa- 
gated in  straight  lines  from  the  source  (as  light  is)  and 
accompanied  with  vibrations  at  right  angles  to  the 
direction  of  propagation  (also  as  light  is)  ;  and  also 
that  the  electric  rays  were  refracted,  reflected  and 
polarized,  as  light  rays  are.  Subsequent  experiments 
with  modified  apparatus  measured  the  velocity  of  the 
propagation  of  electric  waves,  and  found  that  it  was 
virtually  the  same  as  that  of  light. 

To  some,  this  may  not  seem  a  very  important  dis- 
covery, "from  a  practical  standpoint";  and  doubtless 
it  is  not,  from  the  "practical  standpoint"  of  some  peo- 
ple, because  it  does  not  affect  the  amount  of  their 
worldly  possessions,  or  their  ease,  comfort  and  pleas- 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    ETHER  305 

ure.  It  was  hailed  with  delight  by  scientific  men,  how- 
ever; because  not  only  did  it  support  the  electro- 
magnetic theory  of  light,  but  the  course  of  Hertz's 
work  had  demonstrated  the  suspected  fact  that  the 
"receiver"  of  electric  waves  must  harmonize  in  its 
electric  dimensions  with  the  transmitter,  in  order  that 
the  greatest  amount  of  electric  energy  may  be  developed 
in  the  receiver;  and  it  had  thus  given  assistance  to 
investigations  then  in  progress  on  what  we  now  call 
"wireless  telegraphy." 

Many  investigators  were  now  in  the  field,  among 
whom  was  the  humble  author  of  these  pages.  Little 
real  progress  was  made  until,  in  1891,  when  Branly 
announced  his  amazing  discovery  and  utilized  it  in  his 
amazing  invention,  called  the  "coherer."  His  dis- 
covery was  that,  if  a  tube  containing  metal  filings  be 
placed  in  the  "field"  of  the  spark  of  an  electric  machine, 
Leyden  jar,  or  Rhumkorff  coil,  it  (the  filings)  will  be- 
come a  conductor  of  electricity  when  hit  by  the  electric 
waves;  and  that  it  will  revert  to  its  normal  state  as  a 
non-conductor,  if  smartly  tapped :  the  effect  of  the  waves 
being  to  cause  the  separate  particles  to  co-here  and 
form  a  continuous  metal  conductor;  while  the  effect  of 
the  tapping  was  to  jar  the  particles  apart.  The  first 
use  of  this  coherer  was  in  place  of  the  ring  that  Hertz 
had  used;  but  its  value  as  an  instrument  of  practical 
usefulness  in  achieving  electric  communication  without 
wires  was  almost  immediately  perceived — and  demon- 
strated. 

The  career  of  the  wireless  telegraph  since  Branly's 
great  discovery  has  been  as  rapid,  widespread  and 
important  as  any  other  new  agency  has  ever  enjoyed, 
and  possibly  more  so.  That  wireless  telegraphy  was 
a  distinct  invention  may  perhaps  be  questioned.  If  it 
was,  who  was  the  inventor?  It  is  true  that  an  invention 
does  not  have  to  be  associated  with  any  one  inventor 


306  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

in  order  to  have  the  right  to  be  characterized  as  an 
invention;  but  in  the  case  of  the  wireless  telegraph,  it 
seems  safe  to  say  that,  although  some  of  the  separate 
steps  toward  its  achievement  were  inventions,  the  final 
step  was  merely  the  adding  together  of  these  separate 
steps  in  a  way  that  was  perfectly  obvious,  and  that 
several  men  accomplished  almost  simultaneously.  As 
soon  as  Branly  produced  his  coherer,  the  problem  was 
thereby  automatically  solved.  Every  experimenter 
realized  that  it  was  merely  necessary  to  use  Branly's 
coherer,  in  place  of  any  receiver  previously  used,  and 
to  "tune"  the  transmitting  and  receiving  circuits  into 
harmony. 

The  first  man  to  make  a  practical  wireless  installation 
seems  to  have  been  Marconi,  in  1896.  As  is  well 
known,  the  distances  over  which  messages  can  be  sent 
has  been  increasing  rapidly  ever  since,  and  so  has  been 
the  number  and  the  importance  of  the  organizations 
using  it,  of  which  the  largest  are  the  various  national 
governments  themselves.  The  vast  influence  of  wire- 
less (or  radio)  telegraphy  on  the  history  of  the  great 
World  War  is  too  recent  to  need  detailing,  but  possibly 
it  may  be  well  to  call  to  mind  the  fact  that  the  ocean 
cables  were  virtually  all  under  the  control  of  the  Al- 
lies, and  that  "the  wireless"  was  almost  the  only 
means  that  Germany  had  for  receiving  information 
quickly  and  sending  instructions  quickly  beyond  her 
own  coast  line.  It  was  used  by  the  Allies,  however, 
almost  continually  in  the  controlling  of  their  multitu- 
dinous naval  units  on  the  sea,  and  among  those  units 
themselves;  and  it  made  possible  that  prompt  and 
harmonious  action  among  numerous  widely  separated 
groups,  that  distinguished  this  war  from  all  preceding 
wars.  It  would  be  difficult  to  determine  whether  the 
wireless  lengthened  the  war  by  the  assistance  it  gave 
to  Germany,  or  shortened  it  by  the  assistance  it  ren- 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   ETHER  307 

dered  the  Allies.  In  the  early  part  of  the  war,  when 
Germany  was  directing  ships  that  were  far  away,  it 
helped  Germany  more  than  it  helped  the  Allies;  but 
in  the  last  years,  when  the  Allies  were  fighting  the 
submarines  in  the  Mediterranean  and  North  Seas,  it 
helped  the  Allies  more.  In  the  main,  it  probably 
shortened  the  war  considerably,  by  accelerating  the 
operations. 

This  reminds  us  of  the  fact  that  the  general  effect  of 
invention  has  been  to  make  wars  more  terrible  but 
more  brief;  and  that  the  abbreviating  effect  is  especially 
noticeable  in  inventions  that  increase  the  speed  and 
safety  of  transportation  and  communication.  Another 
effect  of  invention  has  been  to  make  wars  more  wide- 
spread; for  the  reason  that  it  links  some  nations  to- 
gether and  creates  antagonism  between  other  nations, 
even  if  they  are  far  apart.  Larger  and  larger  organ- 
izations are  thus  brought  into  being,  not  only  as  nations 
but  as  allies  and  confederates.  In  this  way,  Japan 
fought  in  Asia,  in  co-operation  with  her  allies  in  France. 

On  the  supposition  that  the  Machine  is  going  to 
continue  to  increase  in  size  and  strength  and  excellence, 
on  the  further  supposition  that  the  more  highly  civ- 
ilized nations  will  continue  to  control  the  less  civilized 
nations  increasingly,  the  time  may  not  be  many  genera- 
tions distant  when  all  the  nations  of  the  world  will  be 
divided  into  a  very  few  groups,  each  dominated  by  one 
great  nation;  as  the  Middle  Europe  nations  were 
dominated  by  Germany  in  the  last  war.  As  all  the 
known  world  was  once  divided  into  two  groups  headed 
by  Assyria  and  Babylon;  at  another  time  by  Assyria 
and  Persia;  at  another  time  by  Greece  and  Persia;  at 
another  by  Rome  and  Carthage,  etc.,  and  as  at  various 
times  Europe  also  has  been  divided  into  two  opposing 
groups  of  nations,  so  the  whole  known  world  may 


308  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

again  be  divided  into  two  opposing  groups  of  nations : 
— possibly  the  white  and  the  yellow  nations. 

The  clash  of  the  fighting  machines  of  two  such  vast 
organizations,  perfected  in  power  and  speed  as  they 
doubtless  will  be  as  the  years  go  by  and  inventions  suc- 
ceed each  other,  will  surpass  in  grandeur  anything  yet 
dreamed  of.  It  may  never  occur.  Never?  It  may 
never  occur;  but  something  approximating  it  will  occur, 
if  history  is  to  be  as  much  like  past  history  as  history 
usually  has  been. 

In  1889,  Schneider"  invented  his  process  of  making 
nickel  steel,  and  thereby  effected  an  improvement  in 
steel  that  was  first  utilized  in  making  armor,  and  after- 
ward in  making  other  articles  of  many  kinds.  Hall 
invented  a  process  of  making  aluminum  during  the 
same  year.  In  the  following  year,  Stephens  invented 
his  electric  plough,  and  Mergenthaler  made  an  im- 
provement on  his  linotype  machine.  About  the  same 
time,  pneumatic  tires  were  attached  to  bicycles ;  and  an 
invention  of  a  most  important  kind,  that  had  lain  dor- 
mant for  many  years,  was  put  to  work  at  last.  The 
inventor  had  long  since  died.  Does  he  know  that  his 
invention  is  now  used  all  over  the  civilized  world?  If 
so,  does  the  knowledge  give  him  pleasure  ? 

One  of  the  most  unsatisfactory  parts  of  an  inventor's 
experience  is  the  difficulty  he  has  in  making  other  men 
see  the  value  of  his  inventions,  combined  with  the  fact 
that  when  the  invention  is  finally  adopted,  his  part 
in  it  is  often  forgotten,  and  sometimes  intentionally 
ignored.  This  applies  especially  to  inventions  of  a 
high  order  of  originality,  that  are  a  little  in  advance 
of  the  requirements  and  knowledge  of  most  men  at  the 
time,  and  that  are  looked  upon  as  visionary  and  do 
not  come  into  use  for  a  considerable  while.  Many  an 
inventor  has  endured  a  purgatory  while  trying  to  get 
a  hearing  for  his  invention,  and  yet  been  wholly  for- 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   ETHER  309 

gotten  when  it  was  finally  adopted.  To  make  the  mat- 
ter worse,  he  has  often  been  branded  for  life  as  a 
visionary,  and  remained  so  branded,  even  after  the 
invention  had  been  adopted  because  of  which  he  had 
been  branded.  In  other  cases,  manufacturers  have 
stolen  his  invention  and  denied  his  claims,  knowing  that 
he  was  too  poor  to  fight  against  them  with  all  of  their 
resources.  In  other  cases,  business  men  and  lawyers 
have  combined  to  induce  him  to  sign  papers  of  a 
highly  advantageous  character  to  the  business  men, 
but  contrariwise  to  the  inventor.  In  all  of  these  cases, 
the  matter  has  usually  been  the  worse  for  the  inventor 
in  proportion  to  the  high  order  of  the  invention :  for 
the  real  inventor,  like  the  real  artist,  is  usually  so 
absorbed  in  his  thoughts  that  he  cares  but  little  (too 
little)  for  material  gain.  The  case  of  the  inventor 
who  makes  a  business  of  inventing  is  somewhat  dif- 
ferent. He  usually  confines  his  efforts  to  making  inven- 
tions that  will  bring  in  money,  becomes  an  expert  on 
nice  points  in  patent  law,  discerns  chances  for  circum- 
venting existing  patents  while  utilizing  their  basic 
principles,  perceives  opportunities  for  making  the  little 
improvements  in  detail  that  promote  practicability,  and 
becomes  the  kind  of  inventor  who  owns  a  limousine. 
In  1890,  Krag-Jorgensen  invented  the  famous  rifle 
of  that  name.  In  the  following  year,  Branly  invented 
the  coherer  mentioned  on  page  305,  and  Parsons  in- 
vented his  rotary  steam  turbine.  The  steam  turbine 
was  an  improvement  over  the  reciprocating  steam  en- 
gine for  many  classes  of  work,  great  and  small.  The 
first  steam  engine  invented  by  Hero  was  a  rotary 
engine,  but  it  was  of  course,  most  uneconomical  of 
steam.  The  first  steam  engine  that  was  really  efficient 
was  the  reciprocating  engine  produced  by  Watt.  The 
greatest  single  defect  of  rotary  engines  has  always  been 
the  loss  of  steam  in  going  by  the  rotating  parts  without 


310  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

doing  any  work,  a  defect  existing  in  only  a  small  degree 
with  the  closely  fitting  pistons  of  reciprocating  engines. 
In  the  turbines  invented  by  Parsons  and  others  about 
the  same  time,  wastage  of  steam  was  prevented  by 
various  means  that  need  not  be  detailed  here,  and 
smooth  motion  of  the  rotary  engine  at  the  same  time 
secured.  The  greatest  benefit  accrued  probably  to 
ocean  steamships,  in  which  the  absence  of  vibration, 
and  the  saving  in  weight,  space  and  number  of  attend- 
ants required  were  features  of  great  practical  impor- 
tance. 

About  1890,  Edison  invented  the  kinetograph  and 
kinetoscope,  after  a  long  series  of  investigations  and 
experiments.  These  followed  the  experiments  made 
by  Dr.  Muybridge  some  years  before,  in  which  he  had 
taken  many  successive  pictures  of  horses  at  very  short 
intervals,  by  means  of  as  many  separate  cameras, 
(twelve  pictures  in  one  stride  for  instance),  and  after- 
wards reproduced  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  horses 
in  rapid  motion.  They  came  also  after  Eastman's 
kodak,  in  which  pictures  could  be  taken  successively, 
on  a  traveling  film.  In  the  kinetograph,  only  one 
object  glass  was  used;  and  the  film  was  drawn  along 
behind  it  in  such  a  way  that,  at  predetermined  intervals, 
the  film  was  stopped  and  a  shutter  behind  the  object 
glass  or  lens  was  moved  away,  and  a  picture  taken.  The 
moving  mechanism  (at  first  the  human  hand)  continu- 
ing in  motion,  the  shutter  was  closed  and  the  film  was 
moved  along  a  short  distance,  so  as  to  bring  another 
part  behind  the  object  glass.  Then  the  same  operation 
was  repeated — and  so  on.  In  the  kinetoscope,  the 
operation  was  reversed,  in  the  sense  that  the  pictures 
taken  were  presented  successively  to  the  eye  of  the 
observer.  In  the  first  form,  the  observer  looked  at 
them  through  a  peep-hole :  but  in  the  latter  forms,  the 
pictures  have  been  thrown  upon  a  screen — somewhat 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    ETHER  311 

as  from  a  magic  lantern,  and  become  the  "movie"  of 
today. 

Here,  again,  we  see  an  invention  of  the  highest  order 
in  each  of  the  three  essentials — conception,  develop- 
ment and  production.  No  invention  exists  of  a  higher 
order.  As  to  their  use  and  usefulness,  we  are  most  fa- 
miliar with  them  in  moving  pictures.  Whether  it  is  for 
the  public  good  to  produce  so  many  shows  for  idly  dis- 
posed men  and  women  to  spend  their  time  in  looking 
at,  is  perhaps  a  possible  subject  for  enlightening  dis- 
cussion. But  the  moving  picture  is  used  for  many 
purposes,  especially  for  purposes  of  education  and  re- 
search, besides  that  of  mere  amusement,  and  will  un- 
questionably be  so  used,  more  and  more  as  time  goes 
on.  One  of  its  most  obvious  spheres  of  usefulness  is 
in  making  photographs  of  movements  that  are  very 
rapid,  and  then  analyzing  and  inspecting  those  photo- 
graphs when  presented  very  slowly,  and  when  stopped. 
Another  is  in  taking  photographs  of  successive  situa- 
tions that  have  occurred  at  considerable  intervals  of 
time,  and  then  presenting  the  pictures  quickly,  and  thus 
showing  a  connected  story.  By  dealing  in  this  way 
with  historical  incidents,  we  can  get  a  realization  of 
the  interdependence  of  those  incidents  that  we  cannot 
get  in  any  other  way,  and  see  how  cause  has  produced 
effects,  and  effects  have  come  from  causes.  Similarly, 
the  work  of  building  any  large  structure  can  be  shown 
by  presenting  rapidly  a  series  of  photographs  taken 
at  different  stages;  and  so  can  the  growth  of  a  plant  or 
animal,  and  almost  any  kind  of  progress. 

Let  us  impress  on  our  minds  the  fact  that  if  we  read 
any  book,  or  witness  any  occurrence,  or  listen  to  any 
argument,  or  receive  any  instruction  of  any  kind,  the 
only  value  comes  to  us  from  the  pictures  made  on  our 
mental  retinas  and  the  permanence  and  clearness  of 
the  records  impressed.  Thus,  any  means  that  can 


312  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

impress  us  quickly  with  the  most  important  pictures 
must  be  of  the  highest  practical  value,  both  in  prose- 
cuting studies  of  events,  and  in  gathering  conclusions 
from  them.  In  fact,  the  kinetograph  and  the  kineto- 
scope  are  simply  Edison's  imitation  of  the  operations 
carried  on  inside  the  skull  of  each  of  us;  for  we  are 
continually  taking  moving  pictures  of  what  we  see  and 
hear  and  read  and  feel;  recording  them  on  our  own 
moving  sensitized  films,  and  bringing  them  before  our 
mental  gaze  at  our  own  volition  and  sometimes  in 
spite  of  it. 

In  1890,  the  author  of  this  book  patented  "A 
Method  of  Pointing  Guns  at  Sea"  that  has  been  adopted 
in  all  the  great  navies,  under  the  name  "Gun  Director 
System."  In  1891  he  patented  a  modification  under 
the  name  "Telescopic  Sight  for  Ships  Guns."  These 
two  inventions  are  used  in  every  navy  in  the  world, 
have  increased  the  effectiveness  of  naval  gunnery  im- 
measurably, and  have,  therefore,  been  important  con- 
tributions to  the  self-protectiveness  of  the  Machine. 

In  1893,  Acheson  invented  his  process  for  making 
carborundum,  a  compound  of  carbon  and  silicon,  made 
in  the  electric  furnace,  and  used  for  abrasive  purposes; 
and  in  the  same  year  Willson  made  carbide  of  calcium 
from  carbon  and  quick-lime,  also  in  the  electric  furnace. 
In  1895,  Linde  invented  his  process  of  liquefying  air, 
and  the  first  installation  of  great  electric  locomotives 
was  effected:  this  was  in  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  tun- 
nel. In  the  same  year,  Rontgen  made  the  epochal  dis- 
covery of  what  he  called  by  the  significant  name 
"X-rays,"  a  name  that  still  clings  to  them. 

They  were  discovered  by  Rontgen  in  the  course  of 
his  researches  with  cathode  rays.  His  discovery  was 
in  effect  that  electric  rays  emanated  from  the  part  of 
the  tube  struck  by  the  cathode  rays.  They  were  not 
cathode  rays,  though  produced  by  them,  and  had  the 


THE    CONQUEST   OF    ETHER  313 

amazing  property  of  penetrating  certain  insulating  sub- 
stances, such  as  ebonite,  paper,  etc.,  while  not  pene- 
trating metals,  except  through  short  distances.  Un- 
like the  cathode  rays,  they  were  not  deflected  by  mag- 
nets; and  neither  did  they  seem  to  be  reflected  or 
refracted  similarly.  Their  most  important  property 
was  that  of  acting  photographically  on  sensitized 
plates,  even  when  in  closed  slides,  and  wrapped  care- 
fully in  black  paper. 

The  greatest  usefulness  of  the  X-rays  thus  far  made 
has  been  in  photographing  internal  parts  of  the  human 
body;  for  the  rays  pass  through  certain  parts  less 
readily  than  through  other  parts;  through  bones  for 
instance,  less  readily  than  through  soft  parts.  Frac- 
tures or  displacements  of  bones  can  therefore  be  read- 
ily detected.  So  also  can  the  formation  of  pus  in 
cavities,  and  the  appearance  of  abnormal  products  of 
many  kinds.  To  this  discovery  we  must  give  a  rank 
as  high  as  almost  any  other  that  we  have  noted  in  this 
book,  though  we  cannot  tell,  of  course,  how  long  it  will 
hold  it.  With  mechanical  and  scientific  inventions, 
as  with  books  and  poems  and  inventions  of  other  kinds, 
the  question  of  permanence  of  value  or  of  usefulness 
cannot  be  decided  until  after  many  years. 

One  of  the  curious  properties  of  X-rays  is  that  of 
rendering  the  air  through  which  they  pass  a  conductor 
of  electricity.  So  far  as  the  author  is  aware,  no  inven- 
tion of  practical  usefulness  has  yet  been  made,  based 
upon  this  property. 

In  1896,  Marconi  brought  out  the  first  practically 
successful  system  of  wireless  telegraphy,  Finsen  demon- 
strated the  usefulness  of  certain  rays  of  the  spectrum 
for  treating  certain  skin  diseases,  and  Becquerel  dis- 
covered what  have  since  been  called  the  Becquerel 
rays.  In  experimenting  with  X-ray  photography,  he 
found  that  a  sensitized  plate,  though  covered  with  black 


314  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

paper,  was  acted  on  not  only  by  X-rays,  but  also  by 
the  metal  uranium  and  certain  of  its  salts;  and  he  also 
found  that  the  mere  presence  of  uranium  made  the 
contiguous  air  a  conductor,  as  did  the  X-  or  Rontgen 
rays.  The  amazement  caused  by  the  discovery  of  such 
undreamed-of  properties,  especially  in  so  commonplace 
a  substance  as  uranium  had  been  supposed  to  be,  can 
easily  be  imagined;  and  it  is  plain  why  strenuous  efforts 
were  made  at  once  by  scientific  people,  to  see  if  other 
substances  did  not  possess  those  properties  also.  As  a 
result,  it  was  soon  found  that  other  bodies  did  possess 
them.  To  those  bo.dies  that  seem  to  possess  the  quality 
of  radiating  activities  of  certain  kinds,  the  adjective 
radio-active  has  been  applied.  The  most  important 
radio-active  elements  are  uranium,  thorium  and  radium, 
of  which  the  last  is  immeasurably  the  most  active  and 
important.  Radium  was  discovered  in  1898  by  M. 
and  Madame  Curie  and  M.  Bemont,  while  experiment- 
ing with  the  uranium  mineral  pitchblende.  It  seemed 
to  some  people  at  the  time  to  challenge  the  theory  of 
the  conservation  of  energy,  and  to  threaten  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  whole  science  of  Physics,  by  emanating 
energy  without  loss  to  itself.  It  has  since  been  found, 
of  course,  that  radium  does  give  up  part  of  its  sub- 
stance; that  it  disintegrates  in  fact,  as  a  result  of  its 
emanations. 

How  great  an  influence  the  discovery  of  radium  is 
going  to  exert,  it  is  now  impossible  to  predict  with  con- 
fidence ;  but  it  is  manifest  that  the  three  successive  and 
allied  discoveries  of  cathode  rays,  X-rays  and  radium 
have  introduced  a  new  and  growing  science  into  the 
Machine;  and  it  is  seemingly  possible  that  that  science 
may,  soon  or  tardily,  ascertain  the  nature  of  the  atom, 
and  even  teach  us  to  divide  it.  It  seems  that  an  atom 
of  radium  does  actually  disintegrate,  and  by  disinteg- 
rating give  out  energy.  The  energy  it  gives  out  is  so 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    ETHER  315 

enormous  in  proportion  to  the  mass  which  gives  it  out,  * 

as  to  suggest  to  us  an  almost  infinite  source  of  available 
power,  if  other  substances  can  be  made  to  disintegrate.  ? 

It  is  said  that  one  gramme  of  radium  can  emit  a  quan- 
tity of  heat  of  about  100  calories  per  hour;  that  is   ^  % 
enough  heat  to  raise  100  grammes  of  water  a  1°  centi-       %  ^Jj 
grade  in  temperature,  by  simply  existing.     It  is  true       J     $ 
that  radium  is  the  most  expensive  article  in  the  world;  V} 

but  that  is  only  because  of  the  difficulties  of  obtaining 
it  at  present.  Now  if  radium  is  so  potentially  power-  J*  A. 

ful  and  disintegrates  so  easily,  it  seems  possible  that  ^ 

other  substances  less  easily  disintegrable   could  emit  ^ 

greater  energy,  if  (or  when)  a  means  is  discovered  for  * 

disintegrating  them.  a     % 

The  interesting  question  now  suggests  itself  of  what  v    £ 
would  happen  if  some  man  should  some  day  discover  /    **  JJ 
accidentally  a  means  of  disintegrating — say  carbon —  >  • 
and  should  unintentionally  disintegrate  a  few  tons  of    j  *^ 
coal  in  Wall  Street.     We  know  what  has  happened  at  * 

times  when  piles  of  explosives  have  been  accidentally  **  " 

detonated.     But  explosives  are  merely  chemical  com- 
pounds, and,  compared  to  atoms  of  radium  are  rela- 
tively  microscopic  in  the  energy  developed  when  broken 
up.     We  remember  the  story  of  the  commotion  caused     *f     ^ 
by  the  monk's  experiment  in  making  powder,  when  & 

the  mixture  exploded  and  hurled  the  pestle  out  of  the 
mortar  and  across  the  room.  Imagine  a  few  tons  of 
carbon  atoms  exploding. 

In  1894  a  war,  long  presaged,  broke  out  between 
China  and  Japan.  In  1854,  when  Commodore  Perry 
went  to  Japan,  and  gave  a  virtual  ultimatum  that  re- 
sulted in  Japan's  opening  her  seaports  to  the  commerce 
of  the  world,  China  and  Japan  were  on  the  same  plane 
of  civilization,  though  China  was  many  times  greater 
in  area  and  population.  But  the  people  of  Japan  were 
different  from  those  of  China  in  the  essential  mental 


316  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

characteristic  of  imagination, — at  least  their  rulers 
were.  For  those  rulers,  noting  the  superior  power 
of  the  foreign  war-ships  as  compared  with  theirs,  and 
reasoning  from  this  to  the  conditions  of  the  countries 
that  produced  those  war-ships,  and  that  produced  also 
the  implements  of  war  on  board  that  were  so  much 
superior  to  the  Japanese,  made  a  mental  picture  of 
what  would  happen  to  Japan  some  day,  when  those 
war-ships  should  come  to  Japan  and  demand  submis- 
sion. To  make  such  a  picture  did  not  require  much 
imagination,  maybe;  but  the  fact  seems  to  be  that  no 
other  Asiatic  nation,  and  no  African  nation,  made  it. 
Then  the  Japanese  made  another  picture,  that  required 
imagination  of  a  brilliant  kind;  and  that  was  a  picture 
of  Japan  learning  the  arts  of  the  foreign  devil,  and 
then  utilizing  those  arts  to  keep  the  foreign  devil  him- 
self at  bay. 

To  us,  looking  back  on  the  perfectly  clear  record  of 
performance  that  Japan  has  made  since  then,  that  per- 
formance may  seem  not  very  difficult  either  to  attempt 
or  to  achieve.  But  no  other  nation  in  the  history  of 
the  world  has  ever  paralleled  it,  or  even  approximated 
it.  To  appreciate  it,  one  must  exert  all  the  imagination 
of  which  he  is  capable,  and  see  himself  in  Japan  as 
Japan  was  in  1854,  amid  all  the  influences  of  the  his- 
tory and  environment  then  prevailing,  with  all  their 
accompaniments  of  ignorance,  prejudice,  inertia  and 
racial  pride.  It  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  through- 
out the  world  that  the  performance  of  Japan  since  1854 
has  been  amazing.  It  is  part  of  the  humble  effort  of 
this  book  to  show  that,  in  all  great  achievements,  the 
result  should  be  attributed  mainly  to  the  estimate  orig- 
inally formed  of  the  situation,  and  the  decision  (inven- 
tion) made  to  meet  it.  "Cest  le  premier  pas  qui 
coute" :  the  rest  follow  as  results. 

The  war  between  China  and  Japan,  and  in  greater 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   ETHER  317 

degree  the  result  of  that  war,  give  clear  and  impressive 
demonstrations  of  the  influence  of  invention  on  history; 
because  the  victors  were  victors  simply  because  they 
had  taken  advantage  of  the  inventions  made  in  Europe 
and  America.  There  was  no  marked  difference  physi- 
cally in  favor  of  the  Japanese.  Whether  there  was 
morally,  we  have  no  means  of  judging.  Was  there  a 
difference  mentally?  We  have  an  excellent  means  of 
judging  this, — the  fact  that  the  Japanese  had  made  a 
correct  estimate  of  the  situation  and  come  to  a  correct 
decision,  while  the  Chinese  had  not. 

In  the  war  that  occurred  ten  years  later,  between 
Japan  and  Russia,  the  influence  of  invention  was  even 
more  clear  and  striking,  for  the  reason  that  Japan 
was  a  virtually  semi-barbarous  country  in  1854,  while 
Russia  was  one  of  the  five  great  powers  of  civilization 
and  Christendom;  and  yet  in  exactly  fifty  years,  Japan 
demonstrated  her  equality  with  Russia  in  the  decisive 
court  of  war  on  land,  and  beat  her  ignominiously  in 
the  equally  decisive  court  of  war  on  sea. 

Why?  Because  during  that  fifty  years  Japan  had 
availed  herself  of  the  aid  of  invention  more  than  Rus- 
sia had  done;  with  the  result  that  when  they  went 
before  the  supreme  tribunal,  Japan  had  better  methods, 
better  equipment,  better  plans,  better  soldiers,  better 
ships,  better  tout  ensemble.  The  most  important 
single  item  was  the  naval  telescope  sight  invented  by 
the  author.  That  was  the  cause  of  the  immeasurably 
superior  gunnery  of  the  Japanese  at  the  decisive  naval 
battle  of  Tsushima. 

Concerning  Japan's  war  with  China  in  1894,  the 
same  truths  may  be  uttered,  though  not  with  quite  so 
much  emphasis;  for  the  results  had  not  been  so  start- 
ling. Both  wars  demonstrate  the  same  principles, 
though  in  unequal  degrees  of  convincingness.  Both 
wars  show  that  the  influence  of  invention  has  been  to 


318  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

build  up  a  Machine  which  is  powerful  not  only  for 
peace  but  for  war;  to  assist  those  nations  the  most  that 
avail  themselves  of  it  with  the  greatest  skill  and  energy, 
and  therefore  to  spur  ambitious  and  far-seeing  people 
to  the  study  of  whatever  knowledge  the  world  affords. 
The  study  most  clearly  indicated  is  that  of  the  resources 
of  physics  and  chemistry,  and  the  experiences  recorded 
in  history. 

In  1897,  Henry  A.  Wise  Wood  invented  the  auto- 
plate,  a  machine  for  making  printing  plates  previously 
made  by  hand,  which  multiplied  fourfold  the  reproduc- 
tion of  the  type  page  in  printing  plates.  This  invention 
facilitated  and  cheapened  the  cost  of  printing,  and 
was  therefore  a  valuable  addition  to  the  Machine. 

In  1898  a  war,  giving  us  lessons  similar  to  those  of 
the  Japanese  wars,  broke  out  between  the  United  States 
and  Spain.  The  disproportion  of  material  resources 
was  great,  and  was  in  favor  of  the  United  States.  Yet 
in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  Spain  had 
been  esteemed  by  many  to  be  the  greatest  of  all  the 
powers,  while  the  territory  later  held  by  the  United 
States  was  the  wild  domain  of  savages.  Why  had 
Spain  fallen  so  far  below  a  country  so  new,  living  three 
thousand  miles  away  from  the  civilization  of  Europe? 
Because  she  had  lost  her  vision;  because  she  had  be- 
come infected  with  the  disease  of  sordidness  which 
quickly-gotten  wealth,  especially  ill-gotten  wealth,  has 
often  brought  to  nations;  because  she  had  ceased  to  en- 
courage such  bright  visions  as  she  had  encouraged  in 
the  days  of  Columbus  and  Magellan,  and  settled  down 
in  the  torpor  of  unimaginativeness.  The  United  States, 
on  the  other  hand,  had  been  seeing  such  visions  and 
following  them  to  learn  what  lay  beyond;  and  had  been 
embodying  all  that  could  be  embodied  in  practical  proj- 
ects and  machines  and  methods  and  instrumentalities 
of  all  kinds.  The  United  States  had  been  taking  all 


THE    CONQUEST    OF    ETHER  319 

possible  advantage  of  the  potentialities  of  invention, 
but  Spain  had  not. 

An  important  result  of  this  war  was  the  proof,  and 
its  utilization  on  a  large  scale  in  Cuba  and  other  Span- 
ish-American countries,  that  the  mosquito  is  a  carrier 
of  the  infections  of  yellow  fever  and  many  other  dis- 
eases. 

Hardly  had  this  war  finished,  when  a  war  broke  out 
in  1899  between  Great  Britain  and  the  Boer  Republic 
in  South  Africa.  It  is  an  evidence  of  the  important 
influence  of  invention  that  it  was  possible  for  Great 
Britain  to  wage  effective  war  so  far  away,  and  finally 
to  triumph.  She  triumphed  mainly  because  of  the 
superior  power  of  her  military  machine ;  but  she  had 
been  able  to  construct  and  to  improve  it  continually 
by  her  persistent  utilization  of  the  possibilities  of  inven- 
tion. The  possibilities  that  she  had  utilized  became 
especially  conspicuous  when  the  necessity  came  for 
transporting  the  necessary  troops  and  guns  and  muni- 
tions and  supplies  over  the  vast  ocean  spaces  interven- 
ing, and  for  handling  them  on  a  foreign  soil;  under 
conditions  very  novel,  and  against  a  wary  and  yet  skil- 
full  and  aggressive  foe. 

This  war  had  not  closed  when  the  Boxer  rebellion 
broke  out  in  China,  and  a  lesson  even  more  clearly 
marked  was  given  to  the  world.  For  the  Chinese  Gov- 
ernment was  perhaps  the  oldest  in  the  world  and  the 
Chinese  nation  the  most  numerous.  The  revolt  grew 
out  of  a  series  of  aggressions  by  certain  European 
powers,  especially  Great  Britain,  Germany,  France  and 
Russia,  that  consisted  in  virtually  appropriating  under 
various  pretexts,  certain  important  positions  and  valu- 
able pieces  of  territory  in  China.  Because  of  the  fact 
that  China  had  lost  her  vision,  and  had  not  even  been 
stimulated  to  realizing  facts  by  the  example  of  Japan, 
China  was  at  this  time  an  incoherent  aggregation  of 


320  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

separate  states  and  organizations;  though  she  was  sup- 
posed to  be  a  coherent  nation,  under  the  emperor  in 
Pekin.  Because  of  a  lack  of  such  a  nervous  system  as 
was  given  to  each  civilized  nation  by  its  railways,  mails, 
newspapers,  telegraphs  and  telephones,  China  was  a 
soft  and  almost  amorphous  mass;  with  no  definite  pur- 
pose and  no  strength,  either  external  or  internal.  China 
was  not  a  machine  in  any  proper  sense  of  the  word,  and 
was  therefore  incapable  of  any  action  of  an  effective 
kind.  The  result  was  that,  although  the  cause  of  the 
Boxers  was  not  only  just  but  laudable,  the  whole  move- 
ment resulted  in  a  series  of  pitiful  atrocities  committed 
by  the  Boxers  in  Pekin,  followed  by  a  forced  entry  into 
that  ancient  capital  by  a  few  thousand  troops  from  the 
principal  civilized  nations,  and  a  quick  and  complete 
suppression  of  the  entire  revolt. 

There,  in  Pekin,  in  the  closing  days  of  the  year  1900, 
could  be  seen,  in  two  contrasting  groups,  peoples  rep- 
resenting the  highly  organized  and  effective  Machine 
of  Civilization  on  one  side  and  its  crude  and  ineffective 
predecessor  on  the  other  side.  What  was  the  cause  of 
the  enormous  difference  between  the  groups?  In 
physical  strength  and  size  and  courage,  little  difference 
if  any  was  observable; — yet  one  went  down  before  the 
other,  like  tenpins  before  a  bowling  ball.  Some  may 
say  that  the  difference  was  due  to  the  difference  in  race. 
Yet  the  Japanese  were  of  the  same  race  as  the  Chinese, 
and  the  Japanese  troops  were  as  markedly  superior  to 
the  Chinese  as  were  the  troops  of  any  other  nation :  in 
fact,  it  was  the  consensus  of  opinion  that  the  Japanese 
troops  were  superior  to  all  the  others,  except  the  Ger- 
man. Some  may  say  it  was  because  of  the  difference  in 
religions.  Yet  the  Japanese  were  of  virtually  the  same 
religion  as  the  Chinese.  Of  course,  the  paramount  dif- 
ference was  in  the  degree  of  civilization.  What  was 
this  difference  in  civilization  due  to?  Clearly,  it  was 


THE    CONQUEST   OF   ETHER  321 

due  to  numberless  causes;  but  there  seem  to  be  two 
causes  more  important  than  the  others :  a  difference  in 
attitude  toward  the  possibilities  of  invention,  and  a  dif- 
ference in  what  has  been  called  "the  fighting  spirit." 

But  the  fighting  spirit  and  a  receptive  attitude  to- 
ward invention  are  usually  found  together,  though  the 
fighting  spirit  may  sometimes  lie  dormant  in  inventive 
and  enterprising  people;  may  lie  dormant,  even  for 
considerable  periods,  when  conditions  are  peaceful, 
and  prosperity  prevails.  But  Achilles — (so  the  legend 
runs) — dwelt  at  one  time  in  hiding,  dressed  in  woman's 
garb,  quiet  and  unsuspected.  Yet  when  suddenly  the 
bugle  rang,  he  grasped  the  sword  and  shield.  So,  in 
1914,  and  for  some  years  before,  Great  Britain,  the 
United  States  and  France  slumbered  under  the  narcotic 
spell  of  pacifism;  yet  when  suddenly  the  German  War 
Machine  advanced  upon  them,  each  nation  and  all  three 
nations  together  rose  in  quick  and  yet  majestic  armed 
reply,  and  proved  their  fighting  spirit  was  not  dead, 
although  it  had  been  sleeping. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION 

'  I  VHE  twentieth  century  was  the  fruition  of  all  that 
-*•  invention  had  achieved  during  the  ages  of  the  past. 
When  it  opened,  the  world  was  a  world  far  different 
from  what  it  had  been,  even  in  times  not  long  gone  by. 
It  was  far  different  from  the  world  of  1850,  or  even 
1875 ;  for  many  inventions  had  been  made  and  utilized 
during  the  passing  years. 

The  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  in- 
terval between  1875  and  1900,  has  been  called  the  "in- 
dustrial age,"  because  of  the  great  advances  made  in  all 
industrial  appliances,  and  the  consequent  advance  made 
in  the  size  and  wealth  and  power  of  industrial  organiza- 
tions of  all  kinds.  In  especial,  the  organizations  deal- 
ing with  systems  of  transportation  and  communication, 
and  with  manufacturing  the  many  appliances  needed  by 
them  had  expanded  greatly.  Other  organizations  had 
expanded  also;  for  the  improvement  and  extension  of 
the  means  of  transportation  and  communication  ren- 
dered possible  the  existence  and  successful  operation 
of  organization  in  many  branches  of  effort,  to  a  degree 
impossible  before.  Cities  grew  in  area  and  population; 
the  buildings  in  size  and  especially  in  height;  railroads 
increased  in  number,  length  of  route  and  speed  of 
travel;  locomotives  and  cars  grew  commensurately; 
colleges,  hospitals,  churches,  clubs,  scientific  bodies, 
benevolent  societies — all  seemed  to  take  a  start  about 
1875  and  to  grow  at  increasing  speed,  as  year  succeed- 
ed year.  But  the  greatest  single  advance  was  made  in 

322 


THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION          323 

ocean  transportation;  for  the  sea,  by  the  year  1900, 
had  become  a  plane  across  which  steamers  moved  with 
a  speed  and  a  certainty  and  a  safety,  rivaling  that  of 
railway  trains  on  land. 

The  factors  most  immediately  and  importantly  to 
be  credited  with  all  these  advances  were  the  improve- 
ments in  the  steam  engine,  the  electric  telegraph,  and 
the  manufacture  of  steel;  also  the  invention  of  the 
dynamo-electric  machine,  the  electric  light  and  the  tele- 
phone. These  factors  had  given  such  power  and 
certainty  and  speed  to  the  Machine  of  Civilization 
that  the  nations  which  joined  it  and  became  contribu- 
tory parts  of  it,  advanced  rapidly  in  prosperity  and 
wealth,  both  actually  and  also  relatively,  as  compared 
with  nations  that  did  not. 

In  the  jear  1900,  the  great  nations  of  the  world 
were  Great  Britain,  France,  Germany,  the  United 
States  and  Japan.  Of  these  Japan  had  advanced  the 
most  in  civilization  during  the  preceding  half  century, 
then  the  United  States,  then  Germany,  then  Great 
Britain,  and  then  France.  The  nation  that  had  in- 
creased the  most  in  territorial  extent  was  Great  Britain. 
In  1900,  the  British  Empire,  including  India,  covered 
about  one-fourth  of  the  whole  surface  of  the  earth.  It 
comprised,  besides  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  five  self- 
governing  colonies,  the  Dominion  of  Canada,  the 
Commonwealth  of  Australia,  the  Union  of  South 
Africa,  New  Foundland  and  New  Zealand,  in  addition 
to  the  1,800,000  square  miles  of  British  India  and  her 
three  hundred  million  people.  France  had  "expanded" 
in  both  Africa  and  Asia;  that  is,  she  had  conquered 
territory  in  those  partially  civilized  continents.  Ger- 
many had  done  similarly;  and  Russia  had  subjugated 
the  nomadic  and  semi-nomadic  tribes  of  Central  Asia. 
The  United  States  had  taken  only  a  little  territory,  that 
included  in  the  Philippines  and  Porto  Rico;  for  she  had 


324  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

expanded  her  constructive  energy  and  skill  in  develop- 
ing the  vast  and  fertile  area  within  her  own  boundaries. 
Japan  had  expanded  only  slightly  in  actual  territory; 
the  exercise  of  her  constructive  talents  being  urgently 
required  at  home. 

It  may  be  declared  that  invention  should  not  be 
credited  with  any  of  this  expansion,  for  the  reasons 
that  to  increase  one's  possessions  is  an  instinct  of 
human  nature,  and  that  the  colonization  of  savage  and 
barbarous  lands  has  been  a  favorite  activity  with  great 
nations  always.  True :  but  the  inventions  enumerated 
in  this  book,  and  the  agencies  which  they  supplied  for 
going  quickly,  surely  and  safely  to  places  far  away; 
of  taking  to  those  places  certain  tools  of  conquest, 
such  as  guns  and  powder;  and  of  supplying  afterward 
to  the  conquered  people  finer  conveniences  of  living, 
juster  laws  and  better  government  of  every  kind,  have 
been  the  effective  means  to  an  end  that  could  not  have 
been  attained  without  them. 

It  may  be  objected  that  the  principal  factors  in  all 
of  these  achievements  have  been  omitted,  the  commer- 
cial enterprise  of  the  merchants,  the  farseeing  wisdom 
of  the  statesmen,  the  valor  and  skill  of  the  strategists, 
and  (back  of  all)  the  courage  and  enterprise  of  the 
original  explorers.  That  these  have  been  omitted,  is 
true;  for  the  reason  that  this  discussion  is  intended  to 
point  out  only  what  invention  has  done.  It  is  obvious 
that  the  main  incentive  of  colonization  has  been  com- 
mercial gain,  and  that  the  initiators  of  colonization 
schemes  have  usually  been  merchants.  It  is  equally 
obvious  that  the  statesmen  are  to  be  credited  with  the 
framing  and  execution  of  the  measures  needed  to  make 
any  colonization  scheme  effective ;  and  it  is  equally  ob- 
vious that  strategists  and  explorers  did  work  without 
which  no  expansion  whatever  would  have  been  pos- 
sible. Nevertheless,  it  must  be  clear  that  the  essential 


THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION          325 

difference  between  the  conquerors  and  the  conquered, 
by  reason  of  which  the  uncivilized  were  conquered  by 
the  civilized,  lay  in  the  aids  which  civilization  had 
supplied  to  the  civilized.  Colonization  and  conquest 
have  been  going  on  ever  since  the  beginning  of  record- 
ed history  and  before;  but  from  the  days  of  Thutmose 
III  in  ancient  Egypt  until  now,  the  conqueror  and  the 
colonizer  have  in  almost  every  case  been  more  civilized 
than  were  their  victims.  It  is  true  also  that  savages 
have  sometimes  overrun  civilized  countries,  and  even 
conquered  them,  for  Alaric  captured  even  Rome :  but 
up  to  the  present  time,  the  fruits  of  such  conquests 
have  not  been  permanent,  whereas  the  fruits  of  coloni- 
zation have  been. 

In  1900,  then,  the  Machine  of  Civilization  was  in 
operation  in  all  parts  of  the  world;  in  the  dark  conti- 
nent of  Africa,  the  deserts  of  Asia,  the  wild  regions  of 
Australia,  and  even  on  the  ocean.  In  fact,  it  was  on 
the  ocean  that  the  Machine  was  operating  with  the 
most  efficiency  and  effectiveness;  for  nowhere  else  are 
the  power  and  the  harmony  of  machinery  of  all  kinds, 
inert  and  human,  seen  in  such  perfection  as  in  great 
steamships  on  the  sea. 

We  seem  safe  in  concluding,  therefore,  that  while 
invention  was  only  one  of  many  factors  in  bringing 
about  the  world-wide  conditions  that  prevailed  in  1900, 
invention  was  the  initiating  factor.  It  was  invention 
that  suggested  to  the  explorer  that  he  explore;  to  the 
merchant  that  he  launch  his  enterprise;  to  the  states- 
man that  he  encourage  the  merchant  and  assist  him 
with  wise  laws;  to  the  strategist  that  he  make  such 
and  such  plans,  to  meet  the  emergencies  that  arose. 
Finally,  it  was  invention  that  made  possible  the  actual 
transportation  of  explorers  and  merchants  and  troops 
to  designated  spots,  and  made  successful  the  operations 
v/hich  ensued  there. 


326  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

But  the  Machine  still  continued  growing.  In  1900 
Hewitt  invented  his  beautiful  mercury-vapor  electric 
light,  and  in  1901  Santos-Dumont  invented  his  air-ship 
and  demonstrated  its  practicability  by  going  around 
the  Eiffel  Tower  in  Paris  in  it  and  returning  to  the  spot 
from  which  he  started.  This  feat  began  that  great 
succession  of  feats  with  dirigible  balloons  with  which 
we  are  so  familiar  now,  and  which  promise  to  be  suc- 
ceeded by  a  condition  of  world-wide  transportation 
through  the  air. 

In  1900,  the  author  of  this  book  patented  the  method 
of  controlling  the  movements  of  vessels,  which  consists 
in  using  radio  telegraphy.  This  invention  has  recently 
been  brought  to  the  stage  of  practicality  by  the  United 
States  Navy.  It  was  utilized  in  July,  1921,  for  steering 
the  Iowa  when  bombed  by  airplanes. 

In  1903  came  the  first  successful  flight  by  areoplane, 
which  was  made  by  the  brothers  Orville  and  Wilbur 
Wright  at  Kitty  Hawk,  North  Carolina.  This  was  an 
epochal  adventure;  it  inaugurated  an  age  which  is  al- 
ready called  the  Aerial  Age,  and  which  will  bring  about 
changes  so  vast  that  our-  imagination  cannot  picture 
them. 

An  interesting  and  instructive  fact  connected  with 
this  flight,  and  with  the  aeroplane  in  general,  is  that 
the  aeroplane  was  not  practicable  and  could  not  be 
made  practicable  before  the  internal-combustion  engine 
had  been  invented  and  developed;  because  all  preced- 
ing engines  had  been  too  heavy.  This  illustrates  the 
fact  occasionally  adverted  to  in  this  book,  that  one  of 
the  most  important  factors  in  the  influence  of  invention 
is  that  each  new  invention  facilitates  later  inventions. 
The  influence  of  invention  is  cumulative. 

In  1905,  Elmer  Sperry  invented  his  gyroscopic  com- 
pass which  is  unaffected  by  terrestrial  magnetism  and 
points  to  the  true  north.  In  19(1?,  he  invented  his 


THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION          327 

gyroscopic  stabilizer  which  reduces  greatly  the  rolling 
of  ships,  aeroplanes,  etc. 

Meanwhile,  the  endeavor  to  accomplish  photog- 
raphy in  color  had  been  receiving  persistent  attention 
from  many  scientific  experimenters,  but  without  much 
practical  success.  The  achievements  of  Becquerel, 
Lippman,  Joly,  Lumiere,  Finlay  and  others  have  doubt- 
less laid  the  initial  stepping  stones;  for  color-photo- 
graphy by  their  efforts  has  been  made  an  accomplished 
fact.  As  yet,  however,  the  art  is  still  in  its  infancy,  and 
has  not,  therefore,  reached  the  stage  of  maturity  that 
enables  us  to  estimate  what  importance  it  will  eventu- 
ally assume. 

In  1908  Goldschmidt  invented  the  thermit  process 
of  welding;  thermit  being  a  mixture  of  aluminum  with 
some  metallic  oxide  such  as  oxide  of  iron.  When  this 
mixture  is  ignited,  the  oxygen  leaves  the  iron  and  unites 
with  the  aluminum,  causing  an  enormous  rise  of  tem- 
perature, and  the  consequent  formation  of  molten 
iron.  This  molten  mass  being  poured  around  the  ends 
of  two  pieces  or  iron,  welds  them  together  at  once.  In 
the  following  year,  Hiram  Maxim  invented  his  silencer 
for  fire  arms,  by  means  of  which  the  noise  resulting 
from  firing  a  gun  is  greatly  lessened.  How  valuable  a 
contribution  this  will  be  to  the  Machine,  it  is  impossible 
at  the  moment  to  predict  with  confidence. 

In  1910,  Henry  A.  Wise  Wood  invented  his  print- 
ing press  that  more  than  doubled  the  speed  of  printing, 
produced  a  thousand  newspapers  of  the  largest  size 
per  minute,  and  directly  enhanced  the  solidarity  of  the 
Machine. 

In  1911  Glenn  Curtiss  produced  his  epochal  flying- 
boat,  Just  and  Hanaman  invented  the  tungsten  elec- 
tric light,  and  Drager  his  pulmotor,  for  reviving  per- 
sons who  have  been  asphyxiated  or  partially  drowned, 
by  forcing  oxygen  into  their  lungs.  The  pulmotor 


328  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

has  come  into  use  to  a  surprising  degree,  and  has  al- 
ready been  established  as  a  part  of  the  Machine  with 
a  recognized  value.  It  belongs  in  the  class  of  remedial 
agents,  about  which  nobody  questions  the  beneficence, 
and  for  which  everyone  recognizes  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude owed  by  mankind  to  the  inventors. 

In  1912,  the  author  of  this  book  invented  the  tor- 
pedoplane,  a  simple  combination  of  the  automobile- 
torpedo  with  the  aeroplane,  so  designed  that  an  aero- 
plane can  carry  a  torpedo  to  a  predetermined  point 
near  an  enemy's  ship  and  then  drop  it,  while  simul- 
taneously operating  the  torpedo's  starting  mechanism: 
so  that  the  torpedo  will  fall  into  the  water,  and  then 
continue  under  its  own  power  toward  its  victim.  As 
the  torpedo-plane  combines  the  most  powerful  weapon 
with  the  swiftest  means  of  transportation,  many  Navy 
officers  think  it  an  invention  of  the  first  rank  of  im- 
portance, that  threatens  to  wipe  all  surface  fighting 
vessels  off  the  seas.  During  the  World  War,  it  played 
only  a  subordinate  part,  though  it  was  used  effectively 
by  the  British  and  the  Germans.  Our  Navy  did  not 
use  it  at  all,  as  Secretary  Daniels  rejected  it.  The 
British  Navy  has  already  adopted  it  as  a  major  instru- 
ment of  war,  and  constructed  two  especially  designed 
fast  vessels,  each  of  which  carries  twenty  torpedo- 
planes.  It  seems  obvious  that  such  a  ship,  if  sufficiently 
fast  to  keep  out  of  the  range  of  a  battleship's  guns, 
could  sink  her  without  much  trouble. 

In  the  same  year  Flexner  discovered  his  antitoxin 
for  cerebro-spinal  meningitis,  and  Edison  invented  the 
kinetophone,  a  combination  of  the  phonograph  and 
the  kinetoscope.  As  yet,  this  has  not  been  made  to 
work  with  such  complete  success  as  to  warrant  its  intro- 
duction into  use.  The  probabilities  seem  to  be  that 
someone  will  eventually  supply  the  link  that  is  evidently 
necessary,  and  make  the  voice  and  the  picture  on  the 


THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION          329 

screen  cooperate  in  unison  as  they  should.  Two  years 
later,  Flexner  isolated  the  bacillus  of  infantile  paraly- 
sis and  Plotz  that  of  typhus  fever. 

The  World  War  that  broke  out  in  August,  1914, 
was  marked  with  far  greater  utilization  of  new  inven- 
tions than  had  marked  any  war  before,  and  foreshad- 
owed even  greater  utilization  of  new  inventions  in  the 
next  war. 

The  first  evidence  of  any  new  appliance  was  a  rain 
of  heavy  projectiles  on  the  tops  of  the  Belgian  forts; 
the  forts  having  been  designed  to  resist  projectiles  on 
their  sides.  The  projectiles,  it  was  discovered  later, 
came  from  mortars  of  a  kind  the  existence  of  which 
had  not  been  suspected.  Soon  after,  the  German  sub- 
marines showed  qualities  of  endurance  and  radius  of 
action  that  bespoke  new  appliances;  and  then  came 
attacks  on  the  Allied  troops  with  poison-gas  that  al- 
most were  successful.  The  Allies  replied  with  new  in- 
ventions, especially  in  wireless  telegraphy  and  tele- 
phony, mines,  "depth-bombs"  and  "listening  devices;" 
the  latter  being  employed  under  water  to  detect  the 
movements  of  submarines.  Many  other  inventions 
were  almost  on  the  point  of  practicality  when  the 
Armistice  was  signed,  but  were  not  quite  ready;  show- 
ing what  had  often  been  shown  before,  that  inventions 
for  use  in  war,  like  all  other  preparations  for  war, 
should  be  complete  ready  for  use,  before  the  war 
begins. 

As  soon  as  the  war  broke  out  in  Europe,  the  present 
author  began  to  urge  that  the  United  States  develop 
naval  and  military  aeronautics  to  the  utmost;  in  order 
that,  when  we  should  finally  enter  into  the  war,  we 
should  have  available  a  large  force  of  bombing  aero- 
planes and  torpedo-planes.  When  we  finally  entered 
into  the  war,  in  April,  1917,  he  urged  continually  that 
we  develop  a  great  aeronautical  force  and  send  it  to 


330  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

Europe  to  prevent  the  exit  of  German  submarines  from 
their  bases,  to  destroy  those  bases  and  to  sink  the  ships 
of  the  German  fleet.  These  suggestions  were  rejected 
by  Secretary  Daniels  as  impracticable ;  but  subsequent 
developments  have  proved  that  they  were  thoroughly 
practicable;  in  fact,  an  expedition  was  organized  in 
England  to  carry  them  out,  when  the  Armistice  was 
signed. 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  what  would  have  been  the 
effect  on  the  war  (and,  therefore,  on  all  subsequent 
history)  if  the  United  States  had  sent  a  large  force  of 
bombing  aeroplanes  and  torpedoplanes  to  Europe 
shortly  after  we  entered  the  war  in  the  Spring  of  1917. 
This  we  easily  could  have  done,  if  we  had  started  to 
get  them  ready,  when  the  suggestion  was  first  made; 
or  even  at  a  considerable  time  thereafter.  Certainly, 
the  war  would  have  been  greatly  shortened,  and  much 
suffering  averted. 

The  inventions  and  discoveries  made  since  the  Great 
War  began,  though  some  are  evidently  important,  are 
so  recent  that  we  cannot  state  with  any  confidence  what 
their  effect  will  be;  and  for  this  reason  the  author 

craves  permission  to  close  his  brief  story  at  this  point. 

***** 

A  noteworthy  fact  observable  in  the  history  of  in- 
vention is  that  it  has  been  confined  almost  wholly  to 
Egypt,  Assyria,  Babylon,  China,  Persia,  Greece,  Italy, 
Germany,  France,  Great  Britain,  and  the  United 
States,  and  to  a  few  men  in  those  countries.  Now  it  is 
in  those  countries  that  the  highest  degree  of  civilization 
has  been  developed,  and  it  is  from  them  that  other 
nations  have  drawn  theirs.  The  almost  total  absence 
of  invention  in  women  is  more  noteworthy  still;  for 
Mrs.  Eddy  and  Madame  Curie  seem  to  be  the  only 
women  who  have  contributed  really  original  and  im- 
portant work. 


THE    FRUITION    OF    INVENTION          331 

Another  noteworthy  fact  is  that  the  idea-germs  from 
which  all  inventions  have  been  developed  have  been 
very  few  and  very  tiny.  But  what  a  numerous  and 
important  progeny  has  been  brought  forth;  and  how 
wholly  impossible  civilization  would  be  now,  had  it 
not  been  for  a  few  basic  inventions  and  certain  im- 
provements made  upon  them !  We  can  realize  this, 
if  we  try  to  imagine  the  effect  of  removing  a  single  one 
of  the  basic  inventions  (and  even  of  certain  derived 
inventions)  from  the  Machine  of  Civilization. 

Try  to  imagine  what  would  happen  if  the  invented 
art  of — say  writing — for  instance  were  suddenly  lost. 
Would  not  the  whole  civilized  world  be  thrown  into 
chaos  as  soon  as  the  fact  were  realized?  A  like  dis- 
order would  be  occasioned,  though  possibly  not  so 
quickly,  if  men  should  suddenly  forget  how  to  print,  or 
even  how  to  use  the  telegraph,  telephone  or  the  com- 
paratively unimportant  typewriter.  Try  to  imagine 
what  would  happen  in  even  one  city, — say  New  York 
— if  the  typewriter  were  suddenly  to  be  withdrawn! 
Would  not  all  the  business  of  New  York  be  paralyzed 
in  a  single  day?  Or  fancy  that  all  the  machines  for 
making  and  utilizing  electricity  for  supplying  light  and 
power  should  suddenly  become  inoperative.  Would 
there  not  be  a  panic  within  twenty-four  hours  or  less? 
Fancy  that  all  the  elevators  should  have  to  stop. 
Imagine  what  would  happen  if  the  steam  engine  should 
suddenly  cease  to  operate,  and  all  the  steamships  and 
railroad  trains  should  stop,  and  the  countless  wheels  of 
industry  that  are  turned  directly  or  indirectly  by  steam 
should  cease  to  turn.  Imagine  that  gunpowder  should 
cease  to  function,  and  that  savages  could  meet  modern 
armies  on  equal  terms. 

Some  one  may  declare  that  this  line  of  argument 
does  not  prove  as  much  as  it  seems  to  prove  regarding 
the  influence  of  invention,  for  the  reason  that  it  in- 


332  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

eludes  a  sudden  change,  and  that  every  sudden  change 
produces  results  which  are  caused  merely  by  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  change.  So  let  us  grant  this,  and  then 
imagine  that  the  changes  suggested  would  not  take 
place  suddenly,  but  very  slowly.  Imagine,  for  instance, 
that  we  should  discover  that  the  various  inventions 
noted  in  this  book  were  gradually  to  cease  to  operate, 
but  that  they  would  not  cease  altogether  for  twenty 
years,  or  even  forty.  Is  it  not  certain  that  the  human 
race  would  revert  to  savagery,  after  those  inventions 
had  ceased  to  operate? 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE   MACHINE   OF   CIVILIZATION,   AND   THE 

DANGEROUS  IGNORANCE  CONCERNING  IT, 

SHOWN   BY   STATESMEN 


pHE  originating  work  of  inventors  of  all  kinds,  and 
•*•  the  assistance  rendered  by  countless  wise  and 
good  men  and  women,  have  built  up  a  Machine  of  Civi- 
lization that  is  surpassingly  wonderful  and  fine. 

To  keep  the  great  Machine  in  order  and  to  handle 
it,  large  numbers  of  men  have  been  educated  in  special- 
ties pertaining  to  its  various  parts.  The  first  men  were 
probably  the  warriors,  who  defended  whatever  little 
Machines  the  various  tribes  had  built  up,  in  their  little 
villages  and  towns.  Next,  probably,  came  the  kings  or 
rulers  who  commanded  the  warriors;  and  then,  the 
priests  who  inculcated  in  the  people  the  various  virtues, 
such  as  loyalty,  courage,  honesty,  etc.,  that  tended  to- 
ward the  discipline  of  the  individual  and  the  consequent 
solidarity  of  the  tribe.  Probably  agriculturists  came 
next,  who  tilled  the  soil;  and  then  came  the  inventors, 
who  assisted  the  warriors  and  the  agriculturalists  by 
devising  implements  to  help  them  do  their  work.  It 
seems  probable  that  the  artisans  came  next;  and  that  it 
was  by  the  co-operative  working  of  them  with  the  in- 
ventors, that  the  conceptions  of  the  inventors  were  em- 
bodied in  implements  of  practical  usefulness  and  value. 
As  time  went  on,  and  implements  were  produced  that 
consisted  of  two  or  more  parts,  the  activities  of  the 
artisans  were  enlarged,  so  as  to  take  care  of  those  im- 
plements and  keep  them  in  adjustment.  The  bow  and 

333 


334  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

arrow,  for  instance,  would  not  work  well,  unless  the 
cord  were  maintained  at  the  correct  degree  of  tension, 
the  feathers  on  the  arrows  were  kept  straight,  the  ends 
of  the  cords  properly  secured  to  the  bow,  etc.  Simi- 
larly, the  mechanisms  made  for  spinning  and  weaving 
and  fabricating  pottery  had  to  be  kept  in  proper  con- 
dition and  adjustment;  and  if  we  could  realize  the 
small  amount  of  mechanical  knowledge  extant  in  pri- 
meval days,  we  would  probably  also  realize  that  the 
difficulties  of  keeping  these  crude  appliances  in  good 
working  order  were  as  great  as  are  the  like  difficulties 
now,  with  the  most  complicated  printing-press. 

Furthermore,  it  was  not  only  for  keeping  mechan- 
isms in  good  condition  that  artisans  were  needed:  a 
higher  degree  of  skill  was  needed  for  operating  them. 
We  are  forced  to  the  conclusion  that,  as  soon  as  mech- 
anisms were  produced,  the  need  of  artisans  trained  to 
operate  them  was  felt.  Not  only  this:  the  fact  that 
the  mechanisms  were  operated,  the  facts  that  flax  was 
spun  and  textures  were  woven,  and  pottery  was  fash- 
ioned and  baked,  and  that  bows  and  arrows  were  used 
in  battle,  prove  that  operators  were  actually  trained  to 
skill  in  the  various  arts.  This  means  that,  as  soon  as 
the  Machine  of  Civilization  was  begun,  operators 
skilled  in  the  kinds  of  work  which  that  Machine  re- 
quired were  trained  in  their  various  parts,  and  did  their 
appointed  work. 

It  was  not  only  machines  of  brass  and  iron  and  wood, 
moreover,  that  required  skilled  operators:  the  individ- 
ual human  machines  were  continually  getting  out  of 
order,  and  men  were  trained  in  whatever  knowledge 
the  world  contained,  to  keep  them  in  good  order. 
Hence  the  physician  came  into  being. 

The  merchant  must  have  been  developed  shortly 
after  the  agriculturist  and  the  artisan,  to  act  as  the 
agent  for  placing  the  products  of  the  soil  and  the  pro- 


i 


THE    MACHINE    OF    CIVILIZATION         335 

ducts  of  the  mechanisms  in  the  possession  of  the  con- 
sumers. 

As  a  tribe  or  nation  increased  in  size,  laws  had  to 
be  formed  to  regulate  the  mode  of  living  of  its  mem- 
bers, decide  disputes,  punish  offences,  and  regulate 
conduct  in  general.  Hence  the  lawyer  was  gradually 
developed. 

It  seems  probable,  therefore,  that  even  in  pre- 
historic times,  warriors,  rulers,  priests,  physicians, 
agriculturists,  inventors,  artisans,  merchants,  and  law- 
yers were  at  work,  and  that  the  activities  of  men  were 
divided  mainly  among  those  classes. 

The  activities  of  men  are  similarly  divided  now.  In 
fact,  it  is  by  these  separate  activities  that  the  separate 
parts  of  the  Machine  are  handled.  That  these  sepa- 
rate parts  are  handled  well,  the  progress  made  in  those 
parts  convincingly  testifies. 

Despite  this  fact,  however,  no  book  on  invention 
would  be  complete  which  did  not  point  out  that  the 
Machine,  as  a  whole,  is  not  being  handled  well. 

The  Machine  in  each  country  is,  of  course,  handled 
by  the  ruler  and  his  assistants.  Originally  the  ruler 
handled  it  alone ;  but,  as  it  increased  in  complexity  and 
size,  the  task  became  too  great  for  one  man,  and  ad- 
visers and  ministers  were  appointed  to  assist  him.  Men 
fulfilling  such  tasks  and  allied  tasks  we  now  call  states- 
men. 

Now  it  is  to  the  hands  of  the  statesmen  of  each 
country  that  the  actual  management  of  the  Machine  of 
Civilization  is  committed.  Yet  it  is  a  well-known  fact 
that  although  there  are  but  few  men  in  the  world  so 
wise  and  learned  that  they  know  much  about  the 
Machine  or  any  of  its  parts,  yet  it  is  not  from  the  wise 
and  learned  class  that  the  great  officials  of  govern- 
ments are  selected ! 

The  truth  of  this  statement  cannot  reasonably  be 


336  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

denied.  That  the  whole  safety  of  the  Machine  of 
Civilization  is  in  the  hands  of  men  untrained  in  states- 
manship is  incontrovertible.  In  fact,  the  whole  status 
of  statesmanship  is  disconcertingly  vague ;  for  in  all  the 
grand  progress  of  mankind,  no  science  of  statesman- 
ship seems  to  have  developed,  or  any  system  of  train- 
ing to  practice  it.  There  seem  to  be  no  fixed  principles 
of  statesmanship,  no  literature  except  of  an  histori- 
cal kind,  and  little  activity  save  of  an  opportunistic 
sort-  No  special  education  seems  to  be  thought  ne- 
cessary in  a  statesman,  or  any  record  of  achievement; 
for  in  all  countries,  irrespective  of  their  form  of  gov- 
ernment, men  are  placed  in  positions  carrying  the  ut- 
most of  human  power  for  good  and  for  evil,  with  little 
previous  experience  or  training,  and  without  having  to 
pass  any  examinations  of  any  kind ! 

This  fact  demands  attention.  Of  what  avail  is  it  to 
train  men  to  handle  the  separate  parts  of  the  Machine, 
if  the.  Machine  as  a  whole  is  to  be  handled  by  untrained 
men  ?  Of  what  avail  is  it  to  train  engineers,  warriors, 
priests,  physicians,  lawyers  and  merchants  to  handle 
their  several  parts,  if  the  Machine  as  a  whole  is  to  be 
handled  by  statesmen  who  have  not  been  trained  to 
handle  it  ?  It  must  be  obvious  that  no  men  can  handle 
the  Machine  as  a  whole,  unless  they  comprehend  the 
Machine  as  a  whole,  and  also  understand  all  its  parts 
enough  to  realize  their  relation  to  the  whole.  No  man 
can  well  handle  any  machine,  be  it  large,  or  be  it  small, 
without  such  knowledge.  No  man  can  be  a  good 
captain  of  a  battleship,  for  instance,  until  he  has 
spent  many  years  mastering  the  necessary  knowledge. 
Ignorance  of  the  parts  and  the  whole  of  a  battleship 
is  not  permitted  in  a  captain  of  a  battleship.  Why  is 
ignorance  of  the  parts  and  the  whole  of  their  respec- 
tive responsibilities  permitted  in  officials  occupying 
higher  places  in  the  governments? 


THE    MACHINE    OF   CIVILIZATION         337 

That  there  are  few  men  in  the  world  who  under- 
stand enough  of  all  the  various  parts  of  the  Machine 
to  understand  the  Machine  as  a  whole  is  certainly  un- 
fortunate; that  almost  none  of  these  few  men  are 
selected  to  fill  the  positions  of  statesmen  is  dangerous 
to  the  last  degree.  For  the  Machine  has  grown  to  be 
extremely  complicated;  and  it  has  the  quality,  which  all 
machines  have  in  common,  that  an  injury  to  any  part 
affects  the  whole.  This  quality  is  highly  valuable,  in 
fact  it  is  essential;  but  it  carries  with  it  a  menace  to  the 
entire  machine,  if  it  is  operated  by  unskilled  men.  The 
Machine  of  Civilization  came  very  near  to  being 
smashed  in  the  World  War;  because  the  statesmen  of 
France  and  Great  Britain  were  so  inefficient  in  the  most 
important  part  of  their  work  (that  of  guarding  the 
Machine  as  a  whole)  that  they  permitted  Germany  to 
catch  them  unprepared. 

The  longer  this  condition  continues  to  prevail,  the 
greater  the  danger  to  the  Machine  of  Civilization  will 
become.  The  resources  of  invention  are  infinite.  The 
resources  of  invention  are  almost  untouched.  Every 
new  discovery  or  invention  prepares  the  road  for  a 
multitude  of  others.  These  inventions  and  discoveries 
improve  and  enlarge  the  Machine;  but  they  complicate 
it  more  and  more,  and  demand  greater  knowledge  in 
statesmen;  just  as  increase  in  complexity  of  ships  de- 
mands greater  knowledge  in  captains. 

It  can  be  mathematically  proved  by  the  Theory  of 
Probabilities  that,  if  there  be  any  chance  that  a  certain 
accident  may  occur,  it  will  surely  occur  some  day  if  the 
predisposing  causes  are  suffered  to  continue;  and  that 
therefore,  any  machine  committed  to  unskilful  handling 
will  be  wrecked  some  day,  if  the  unskilful  handling  is 
suffered  to  continue.  This  establishes  the  probability 
that  our  Machine  of  Civilization  will  be  wrecked  some 
day,  unless  statesmen  be  trained  to  handle  it. 


338  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-~KEY 

An  invention  seems  to  be  needed  that  will  insure 
adequate  knowledge  in  high  officials  in  governments. 
But  such  an  invention  is  not  really  needed,  because  it  is 
merely  necessary  to  utilize  an  invention  made  and  used 
in  Greece  many  centuries  ago.  This  invention  consist- 
ed in  conceiving,  developing  and  producing  a  system 
whereby  every  candidate  for  any  office  was  required  to 
show  adequate  knowledge  of  matters  coming  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  that  office,  by  passing  a  rigid  examina- 
tion. 

Such  a  system  may  be  deemed  impracticable  in 
modern  representative  governments.  Why?  It  is 
followed  in  all  civilized  armies  and  navies. 

If  it  be  really  impracticable,  then  it  is  impracticable 
to  assure  that  wise  and  able  men  shall  manage  the  com- 
plex Machine  of  Civilization.  This  means,  if  history 
has  any  lessons  for  us,  that  sooner  or  later,  it  will 
again  go  down  in  ruin; — as  it  has  gone  down  at  dif- 
ferent periods  of  the  past,  in  Egypt  and  Assyria  and 
Babylon  and  Rome. 

That  influences  are  already  at  work  which  impair 
the  functioning  of  the  Machine  in  the  present  and 
threaten  its  continuance  in  the  future,  cannot  reason- 
ably be  denied.  Of  these,  the  two  most  powerful  may 
be  classed  under  the  general  heading  "bolshevistic" 
and  "pacifistic."  At  the  bottom  of  the  bolshevistic 
movement  is,  of  course,  the  thirst  for  wealth  and 
power;  the  thirst  for  opportunities  for  handling  and 
using  the  Machine  and  its  various  parts,  by  men  who 
have  done  no  work  in  designing,  or  building,  or  caring 
for  it.  At  the  bottom  of  the  pacifistic  movement  is 
effeminacy:  a  desire  for  mere  ease  and  luxury  and 
softness,  a  shirking  of  responsibility  and  discipline  and 
sacrifice. 

These  two  influences,  unlike  though  they  are,  com- 
bine to  threaten  the  Machine;  the  bolshevistic  by  as- 


THE    MACHINE    OF    CIVILIZATION         339 

sault,  the  pacifistic  by  insuring  weakness  of  resistance 
to  assault.  Of  these,  the  pacifistic  is  the  more  danger- 
ous, because  the  more  insidious;  for  the  same  reason 
that  a  disease  hidden  inside  is  more  dangerous  than  an 
attack  made  openly  outside.  The  most  potent  cause 
of  pacifism  is  the  effeminacy  caused  by  the  combina- 
tion of  prosperity  and  long-continued  peace,  with  its 
resulting  division  of  a  population  into  a  vulgarly  osten- 
tatious rich  minority  and  a  more  or  less  envious  poor 
majority.  When  a  division  like  this  has  come  to  pass, 
hostile  conflict  has  usually  ensued.  Such  a  conflict 
produced  the  French  Revolution,  and  almost  wrecked 
the  Machine  in  France.  Such  a  conflict  is  now  in  prog- 
ress in  Russia,  and  threatens  some  parts  of  Europe. 

Unfortunately,  the  progress  of  invention,  by  enlarg- 
ing the  scope  and  speed  of  communication  and  facilitat- 
ing the  acquiring  of  superficial  knowledge,  has  put  into 
the  hands  of  men  possessing  merely  the  natural  gift  of 
eloquence  the  power  to  influence  large  numbers  of 
people,  without  possessing  knowledge  or  skill  in  states- 
manship. It  has  facilitated  demagoguery : — and  here- 
in lies  the  root  of  the  danger  to  the  Machine ;  for  with- 
out the  demagogue,  the  bolshevist  and  the  pacifist 
would  be  unable  to  get  their  civilization-destroying 
doctrines  presented  attractively  to  the  people. 

Fortunately,  the  Great  War,  though  it  caused  tre- 
mendous suffering,  broke  up  many  visionary  notions 
that  were  crystallizing  into  beliefs,  and  brought  the 
world  face  to  face  again  with  realities.  And  although 
the  violent  disturbance  of  society's  always  unstable 
equilibrium  is  still  evident  in  the  world-wide  unrest 
among  the  poorer  classes,  yet  the  unrest  seems  gradu- 
ally to  be  dying  down,  with  the  realization  that  better 
conditions  of  living  will  be  theirs  in  future. 

And  as  every  nation  that  is  not  wholly  degenerate, 
possesses  the  power  within  itself  to  save  itself,  and  as 


340  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

the  great  nations  of  the  earth  are  very  far  indeed  from 
being  degenerate,  we  are  warranted  in  assuming  that 
each  nation  will  take  the  necessary  steps,  not  only  to 
guard  the  Machine  of  Civilization,  but  to  increase  its 
power  and  excellence. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
THE   FUTURE 

THE  fact  that  invention  has  not  only  been  increas- 
ing during  the  past  one  hundred  years,  but  that 
its  speed  of  increase  has  been  increasing  and  is  still 
increasing,  is  well  recognized.  There  seems  to  be  a 
constant  force  behind  invention  that  imparts  to  it  an 
acceleration,  comparable  to  that  of  gravity  in  accelerat- 
ing the  descent  of  a  falling  stone.  Such  a  phenomenon 
would  be  thoroughly  conformable  to  modern  theories ; 
and  that  there  is  a  force,  impelling  people  to  invent, 
must  be  a  fact;  for  otherwise,  they  would  not  invent. 
If  that  force  be  constant,  the  acceleration  imparted  to 
invention  will  be  constant.  If  the  force  be  variable, 
the  acceleration  imparted  to  invention  will  be  variable. 
In  other  words,  the  future  speed  of  invention,  like  that 
of  every  moving  body,  must  be  governed  by  the  force 
behind  it  and  the  resistances  opposed. 

At  the  present  moment,  the  resistance  to  invention 
is  being  gradually  lessened  because  the  benefits  com- 
ing from  invention  are  being  realized.  Simultaneously, 
the  facilities  for  inventing  are  being  increased. 

These  facilities  are  mainly  in  instruments  of  meas- 
urements and  research.  So  many  of  these  are  there 
now,  that  it  would  only  complicate  matters  to  enume- 
rate them  and  describe  their  spheres.  Two  of  the 
most  important  are  the  spectroscope  and  the  photo- 
graphic camera.  By  means  of  the  spectroscope,  the 
astronomer  can  ascertain  the  chemical  elements  of  far 
distant  stars,  the  temperature  and  pressure  under  which 
they  exist,  the  stage  of  progress  of  the  star,  and  its 

341 


342  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

speed  and  direction  of  movement,  whether  toward  us 
or  away.  By  means  of  the  photographic  camera,  not 
only  can  records  be  made  of  stars  so  far  away  and  faint 
that  light-waves  from  them  cannot  be  noted  by  the  eye, 
even  with  the  assistance  of  the  most  powerful  teles- 
cope,— but  a  virtually  unlimited  number  of  permanent 
records  can  be  made. 

All  fields  of  research  now  feel  the  assistance  im- 
parted by  new  instruments  and  methods.  Even  the 
chemist  realizes  the  aid  of  instruments  invented  by  the 
physicist;  while  every  physicist  welcomes  the  aid  that 
comes  to  him  from  chemists.  The  chemists  and  the 
physicist  are  now  working  together  in  harmony  and 
with  enthusiasm,  engaged  in  a  friendly  rivalry  as  to 
which  shall  help  the  other  most.  And,  as  discovery 
succeeds  discovery,  and  invention  succeeds  invention, 
they  find  themselves — although  the  domain  of  each  is 
widening — not  drifting  farther  apart,  but  drawing 
closer  together.  For  it  seems  to  be  coming  more  and 
more  assured  that  the  Laws  of  Nature  are  simpler 
than  we  thought,  that  chemistry  and  physics  are  more 
alike  than  we,  supposed.  Many  startling  generaliza- 
tions have  been  suggested,  with  much  reason;  such  as, 
that  matter  and  energy  are  one,  that  space  and  time  are 
one,  and  that  even  the  mind  of  man  may  be  subjected 
to  physical  methods  and  analysis.  In  fact,  some  of 
the  greatest  advances  made  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  have  been  in  psychology,  and  achieved  largely  by 
the  use  of  physical  apparatus.  Many  subjects,  former- 
ly included  with  alchemy  and  astrology  in  the  class  of 
occult  if  not  deceitful  arts,  are  now  being  developed 
apparently  toward  more  or  less  exact  sciences;  as 
alchemy  was  developed  into  chemistry,  and  astrology 
into  astronomy.  Efforts  are  even  being  made  to  com- 
municate with  distant  planets  and  with  the  spirits  of  the 
dead. 


THE    FUTURE  343 

That  much  is  being  attempted  that  may  not  be 
realized  is  true.  But  if  we  realize  that  the  universe 
is  now  supposed  to  be  many  millions  of  years  old,  it 
seems  only  yesterday  that  the  phenomena  of  electrical 
and  magnetic  attraction  and  repulsion  were  confusing 
the  minds  of  even  the  wisest:  and  now  electricity  and 
magnetism  are  harnessed  together,  and  working  to- 
gether in  perfect  harmony  and  marvelous  effectiveness, 
for  the  good  of  man. 

That  the  future  of  invention  is  to  be  as  brilliant  as  its 
past,  every  omen  indicates.  In  what  direction  will  it 
proceed?  Probably  in  all  directions.  But  the  line  of 
direction  that  will  occur  the  first  to  many,  is  probably 
in  aerial  flight.  Doubtless  it  is  in  aerial  flight  that  the 
greatest  advance  has  been  made  since  flight  was  first 
successfully  accomplished  in  1903  ;  and  doubtless  it  is  in 
that  line  that  the  greatest  progress  is  being  made  now. 
The  enormous  speeds  already  achieved;  the  growing 
size  of  both  aeroplanes  and  dirigibles;  their  increasing 
speed,  safety  and  convenience;  the  fact  that  roads  are 
not  needed  for  aerial  transportation  as  they  are  for 
carriages  and  railway  trains,  or  deep  water  channels  as 
for  water  craft;  and  the  comparative  cheapness  with 
which  people  and  light  packages  can  be  carried  swiftly 
and  far,  all  point  to  a  vast  increase  in  aerial  transpor- 
tation, and  a  great  modification  in  all  our  modes  of 
living  in  consequence. 

Akin  to  transportation  is  communication : — but  in 
communication,  one  may  reasonably  feel  that  we  have 
arrived  almost  at  the  boundary  line,  not  only  of  the 
possible  but  even  the  desirable.  For  we  have  almost 
instantaneous  communication  all  over  the  surface  of 
the  earth  and  under  almost  all  the  ocean,  by  the  tele- 
graph and  telephone,  using  wires  and  cables;  and 
nearly  equally  good  communication  by  radio  telegraph, 
using  no  material  connection  whatever.  The  wireless 


344  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

telephone  is  following  fast  on  the  heels  of  the  wireless 
telegraph;  and  by  it  we  can  already  telephone  hundreds 
of  miles  between  stations  on  land  and  sea,  and  carry  on 
conversation  for  several  miles  between  fast  moving 
aeroplanes. 

But  progress  is  going  on  rapidly  also  in  the  older 
fields  of  invention.  The  ocean  steamship,  especially 
the  battleship,  is  growing  in  size,  speed  and  safety;  so 
is  the  locomotive,  so  is  the  automobile.  Because  of  the 
progress  in  all  the  useful  arts  and  sciences,  buildings  of 
all  kinds  are  being  constructed  higher  and  larger,  and 
more  commodious  and  safe;  civil  engineering  works  of 
all  description — roads,  canals,  bridges  and  tunnels  are 
setting  their  durable  marks  of  progress  all  over  the 
earth;  the  uses  of  electricity  are  growing,  and  showing 
every  indication  that  they  will  continue  so  to  do ;  and  so 
are  the  uses  of  chemistry  and  light  and  heat.  And 
through  all  the  industrial  world,  in  manufactures 
of  every  kind,  we  see  the  same  unmistakable  signs  of 
progress,  increasing  progress  and  increasing  rate  of 
progress. 

In  the  field  of  pure  science,  we  note  the  same  signs 
of  progress,  increasing  progress,  and  increasing  speed 
of  progress.  Naturally,  however,  it  is  far  more  dif- 
ficult to  predict  with  confidence  the  direction  which 
future  progress  will  take  in  this  field  than  in  the  field  of 
the  practical  application  of  pure  science,  in  which  in- 
vention usually  bestirs  itself.  The  fact,  however,  that 
any  actual  advance  has  begun  in  any  new  science  gives 
the  best  possible  reason  for  expecting  that  the  advance 
is  going  to  continue.  Therefore,  we  may  expect  con- 
tinuing progress  in  all  branches  of  pure  science :  for  the 
near  future,  for  instance,  in  biology,  psychology  and 
what  is  loosely  called  "psychics,"  which  seems  to  be  a 
virtual  excursion  of  psychology  into  the  hazy  realms  of 
telepathy,  clairvoyance,  spiritualism,  and  so  forth. 


THE    FUTURE  345 

That  invention  and  research  are  concerning  them- 
selves more  and  more  with  immaterial  subjects  is  a  fact 
that  is  not  only  noticeable  but  of  vital  importance  to 
us,  for  signs  are  not  lacking  that  man's  material  com- 
fort is  already  sufficiently  well-assured;  in  fact,  that 
perhaps  he  is  already  too  comfortable  for  his  physical 
well-being.  Already  we  see  that  labor  saving  and  com- 
fort-producing appliances  are  impairing  the  physical 
strength  of  men  and  women,  and  to  such  a  degree  that 
artificial  exercises  are  prescribed  by  doctors.  Inasmuch 
as  uthe  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  in  itself  can  make  a 
heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven,"  it  seems  probable 
that  the  direction  of  effort  in  which  the  greatest  real 
benefit  can  be  attained  is  in  research  and  consequent  in- 
vention concerning  the  mind  itself.  But,  for  the  reason 
that  this  is  probably  the  most  difficult  road,  it  seems 
probable  that  success  in  it  may  come  the  latest.  It 
seems  probable  also  that  even  in  that  road,  progress 
will  be  achieved  by  means  analogous  to  those  by  which 
it  has  been  achieved  in  other  roads;  that  is  by  the  use 
of  physical  and  chemical  instruments  and  methods. 
Much  has  been  done  already  by  their  aid  in  psychol- 
ogy, and  much  more  is  promised  in  the  not  distant 
future. 

The  idea  of  influencing  the  mind  directly  to  states 
of  happiness,  and  guarding  it  from  unhappiness,  is  far 
from  new;  for  what  were  the  epicureans,  stoics,  and 
others  trying  to  do  but  that?  Such  attempts,  many 
systems  of  philosophy  and  many  mystic  sects  distinctly 
made.  Of  these  sects,  one  of  the  most  interesting  was 
that  of  the  omphalopsychites,  who  were  able  to  raise 
themselves  to  high  states  of  happiness  by  the  simple 
and  inexpensive  process  of  gazing  at  their  navels. 
Some  advantages  of  their  system  are  obvious. 
Certainly  it  was  less  costly  than  other  means  of  gain- 
ing happiness,  such  as  wearing  narrow-toed  shoes, 


346  INVENTION,    THE    MASTER-KEY 

chewing  tobacco,  smoking  cigarettes  and  drinking 
whiskey;  and  there  is  no  evidence  that  it  ever  caused 
ingrowing  toe-nails,  delirium  tremens,  or  Bright's 
disease. 

That  invention  and  progress  have  produced  and  may 
be  relied  upon  to  continue  to  produce  prosperity,  may 
reasonably  be  predicted.  But  will  they  together  pro- 
duce happiness? 

The  author  respectfully  begs  to  be  excused  from 
answering  this  question.  He  requests  attention,  how- 
ever, to  the  manifest  facts  that  invention  is  a  natural 
gift,  that  the  impetus  to  invention  has  always  been  the 
desire  to  achieve  prosperity  of  some  kind,  and  that  to 
employ  our  natural  gifts  to  satisfy  our  natural  instincts 
can  reasonably  be  expected  to  further  our  happiness; 
unless,  indeed,  we  suspect  Nature  of  playing  tricks 
upon  us. 

That  Nature  sometimes  seems  to  do  this,  and  that 
it  is  dangerous  to  follow  our  instincts  blindly  is  of 
course  a  fact.  But  it  seems  to  be  a  fact  also  that  the 
danger  in  following  our  instincts  seems  to  come  only 
when  we  follow  them  blindly;  and  that,  though  there 
may  be  danger  sometimes  in  following  them  even 
under  the  guidance  of  our  reason,  yet  the  only 
way  in  which  we  have  ever  progressed  at  all  has  been 
by  following  our  instincts  under  reason's  guidance,  and 
invention's  inspiration. 

And  since  the  civilized  world  is  in  virtual  agreement 
that  civilization  is  a  happier  state  than  savagery,  and 
since  we  have  been  impelled  toward  civilization  by  in- 
vention mainly,  there  seems  no  escape  from  the  con- 
clusion that  it  is  to  invention  mainly  that  we  must  look 
for  increase  of  happiness  in  the  future. 

It  may  be,  of  course,  that  happiness  does  not  come 
so  much  from  a  condition  or  state  attained  as  from  the 
act  of  striving  to  attain  it.  It  may  be  suggested  also 


THE    FUTURE  347 

by  some  one  that  life  is  merely  a  game,  and  that  happi- 
ness comes  from  playing  the  game  and  not  from  win- 
ning it,  just  as  children  delight  more  in  constructing  a 
toy  building  with  their  blocks  than  in  the  building  when 
completed:  for  they  no  sooner  complete  the  building 
than  they  knock  it  down,  and  begin  to  build  it  up  again. 
But,  even  from  this  point  of  view,  the  desirability  of 
fostering  invention  would  be  apparent;  because  it 
would  continually  supply  us  with  new  games  to  play, 
and  new  toys  with  which  to  play  them. 

But  that  any  thoughtful  person  could  really  think 
life  a  game  is  an  impossibility.  No  man  with  a  mind 
to  reason  and  a  soul  to  feel  can  contemplate  the  awful 
suffering  that  has  always  existed  in  the  world,  and 
think  life  a  mere  game.  No  man  can  think  life  a  mere 
game,  who  with  an  eye  to  see  and  an  imagination  to 
conceive,  gazes  upon  the  infinite  sea  of  stars  visible  to 
his  unaided  vision,  realizes  how  many  thousands  upon 
thousands  of  stars  there  are  besides,  that  the  photo- 
graphic camera  records,  and  realizes  also  that,  though 
light  travels  even  through  air  at  a  rate  exceeding  186,- 
000  miles  per  second,  yet  that  some  stars  are  so  distant 
that  the  light  now  reaching  us  from  them  started  ages 
before  the  dawn  of  history.  And  no  man  who  is  able 
to  follow  the  teachings  of  science,  even  superficially, 
can  note  the  enormous  development  of  civilization  dur- 
ing the  last  few  thousand  years,  and  realize  that  a 
development  similar  though  infinitely  grander,  must 
have  been  going  on  in  all  the  universe  for  countless 
centuries,  without  realizing  also  that  "through  the  ages 
an  increasing  purpose  runs."  He  may  even  note  a  like- 
ness between  it  and  the  development  on  an  infinitely 
smaller  scale,  of  the  conception  of  a  merely  human  in- 
ventor. Possibly,  his  fancy  may  even  soar  still  higher : 
possibly  he  may  even  wonder  if  all  this  great  creation 


348  INVENTION,   THE    MASTER-KEY 

may  not  be  in  effect  a  great  invention,  and  God  its 
Great  Creator,  because  its  Great  Inventor. 

So,  whether  we  fix  our  thought  on  what  the  scientists 
tell  us  of  the  probable  course  of  development  of  the 
universe  during  the  countless  ages  of  the  past,  or  con- 
sider merely  the  development  of  man  since  the  dawn  of 
recorded  history,  we  seem  to  find  as  the  initiating  cause 
of  both — invention. 

Let  us  therefore  utilize  all  means  possible  to  de- 
velop this  Godgiven  faculty,  the  chiefest  of  the  talents 
committed  to  our  keeping.  That  way  lie  progress, 
prosperity  and  happiness.  How  far  and  how  high 
it  may  lead  us,  God  only  knows;  for  the  resources  of 
invention  are  infinite. 


The  End. 


INDEX 


Abel,  240 
Acetylene  gas,  219 
Acheson,  312 
Age  of  Bronze,  15 
Age  of  Copper,  15 
Age  of  Iron,  19 
Age  of  Steam,"  179  et  seq 
-^geans,  55,  56 
Ampere,  198,   199 
Alchemy,  208 
Alexander,  69  to  97 
Alexandria,  77 
Alphabet,  58 
Aluminum,  213,  302 
Aristotle,  139 

Archimedes,  78,  79,  149,  176 
Air-brake,  278 
Air-pump,  142,  143 
Airships,  326 
Aerial  Age,  326 
Arithmetic,  35 
Artificial  silk,  304 
Arc-light,  183,  235 
Arago,   198 
Arkwright,   172 
Analine  dyes,  265 
AntiseptL  surgery,  274 
Artificial  limbs,  239 
Appleby,  292 
Astronomy,  24,  29 
Astrology,  31 
Assur,  38 
Assyria,  39,  40 
Application  of  hot  air  to 

furnaces,  213 
Antitoxin,  328 
Atwood's  machine,  163 
Atomic  Theory,  210 
Atlantic  cable,  266 
Automatic  piano,  221 
Automatic  arc-light,  235 
Automatic  grain-binder,  273,  292 


Autoplate,  318 
Antipyrene,  298 
Automatic  car-coupler,  285 


R 


Bacon,  Francis,  139,  140,  162 
Bacon,  Roger,  124 
Bacillus  of  hydrophobia,  298 
Bacillus  of  tuberculosis,  298 
Bacillus  of  cholera,  298 
Bacillus  of  diphtheria,  298 
Bacillus  of  lockjaw,   298 
Bacillus  of  infantile 

paralysis,  329 

Bacillus  of  typhus  fever,   329 
Babylonian  measures,  32 
Babylonian   religion,  38 
Balista,  44 
Barometer,    142 
Band  wood-saw,  184,  302 
Babbage,   201 

Battle  of  the  Nile,  189,  190 
Babbitt  metal,  220 
Baldwin,  217 
Bazaine,  281 
Bernoulli,   164 
Bessemer's  process,  248 
Barbed-wire  fence,  273 
Behel,  273 
Bell,  287,  302 
Berliner,  292 
Becquerel  Rays,  313,  314 
Bemont,  314 
Boyle,  141 
Black,  171,  175 
Bonaparte,   177,  178 
Bicycle,  265 

Blake   telephone-transmitter,   294 
Bowers,  302 
Britain,  91,  92 
Branca,   152 
Brandenburg,    164 
Brugnatelli,   182 


349 


350 


INDEX 


Brewster,  186,  244 
Braithwaite,  214 
Buddhism,  39,  263 
Burden,   218 
Bourdon,   244 
Bunsen,  266 
Bullock,  274 
Burleigh,  275 
Bismarck,  283 
Branly's  coherer,  305 
Bow  and  arrow,  4,  5 


Caesar,  7,  8b  to  95,  279 

Catapult,  44 

Carthage,  83,  84,  85 

Caus,  151 

Cawley,  153 

Cavendish,   170,  171,  175 

Cavallo,  175 

Cartwright,  175 

Calculating  machine,  201 

Carbolic  acid,  218 

Cable-car,   265 

Carre,  269 

Carbide  of  calcium,  273 

Cash-carrier,  286 

Cash-register,  286 

Carbon  telephone-transmitter,  292 

Cathode  rays,  292 

Carborundum,  312 

Celluloid,  284 

Cerebro-spinal    meningitis 

antitoxin,  328 
Circulation  of  blood,  140 
Clock,  162 
Clermont,  180 
Chemistry,  208 
Chloroform,  215 
Chloral  hydrate,  217 
Channing,  246 
Christianity,  50,  263 
Christian  Science,  277 
Cigarette  machine,  291 
Civil  War  in  America,  269  et  seq 
Clay  tablets,  24 
Confucianism,  39 
Coins,  48 
Corvus,  84,  85 
Constantinople,  96,  97,  113 
Columbus,  125  et  seq 
Cortez,  128,  129 
Copernicus,  132,  133,  134 


Cornwallis,  174,  175 
Charlotte  Dundas,  180 
Coal-gas,   184 
Copenhagen,  192 
Constant  battery,  219 
Colt,  219 
Cooke,  220 
Corliss  cut-off,  244 
Cocaine,  248 
Congress  of  Vienna,  260 
Constitution  of  the  United 

States,  263 

Congress,  U.  S.  S.,  270,  271,  272 
Compressed-air  rock 

drill,  275,  284 
Clerk  Maxwell,  284,  285 
Chrome  process  of  tanning,  302 
Cowles,  302 
Color  photography,  327 
Cretans,  48 
Croesus,  48 
Crawford,  220 
Craske,  269 
Crookes,   292 
Cuneiform  writing,  28 
Customs  union,  261 
Cumberland,  U.  S.  S.,  270, 

271,  272 
Curie,  314 
Curtiss,  Glenn,  327 
Cyrus,  39 

Curved  stereoplates,  269 
Cyanide  process,  303 


Dalton,  210,  211 
Daedalus,  57 
Darius,  59 
Davy,   181,   182,   183 
Daguerre,    181,    182 
Daniell,  219 
Davy,  Edmund,  219 
De  Lesseps,  237 
Dennison,  242 
Deisel  Engine,  291 
De  Chardonnet,  304 
Daniels,  328,  330 
Depth  bomb,  339 
Delia  Porta,  151 
Decimal  system,  32 
De  Grasse,  174,  175 
Dewar,  201 
Disc  for  polishing,  43 


INDEX 


351 


Dias,  Bartholomew,  125 

Diet  at  Worms,  131 

Diet  at  Spires,  131 

Diebel,  142 

Divine   Right  of  kings,   146,   147 

Dodge,  274 

Domestication  of  brutes,  13 

Duodecimal  system,  31,  32 

Dynamics,    159 

Dry-plate    photography,    265 

Dynamo  electric  machine,  275 

Draper,  221 

Drager,  327 

Duplex  telegraph,  285 

Dynamite,  277 


Eastman,  304 

East    India   Company,   257 

Eberth,  295 

Edison,  123,  29;2,  310,  328,  285 

Egyptian  religion,  38 

Eddy,  277 

Electricity,   148  et  seq 

Electric  light,    149 

Telegraph,   215 

Cautery,   239 

Locomotive,  245 

Candle,   290 

Railway,   first,  293 

Welding,  302 

Furnace,    312 

Motor,  217,  218 
Electroplating,    182 
Electrically  propelled  boat,  221 
Electrostatic  induction,  247 
Elevator,  272 
Electromagnetic  theory  of 

light,  284 
Electron,  293 
Embalming,    35 
Ericsson,  10,  68,  214,  220,  270, 

271,  272 
Ether  as  an  anaesthetic,  221 


F 


Faraday,  138,  199,  214,  247 

Farmer,  246 

Fahrenheit,  142 

Fire,  5 

Fitch,  180 

First    American  locomotive,   217 


First  electric  telegraph,  232 
Fire  alarm  telegraph,  247 
Field,  Cyrus,  266 
Finsen,  313 
First  successful  aeroplane 

flight,  326 

Fiske,  312,  326,  328 
Finlay,  327 

Feudal  system,  145,  146 
Foucault,  235 
Fox,  Talbot,  247 
Foy,  294 

Faure  storage  battery,  294 
Flexner,   328,   329 
Flying  boat,  327 
Flute,  49 

Frederick  William,  165,  166,  279 
Frederick  the  Great,  166  et  seq 
Franklin,   168,   169,   170,  256 
Friction  matches,  213 
French  Revolution,  260 
Fulton,   180 


Catling  gun,  273 

Galileo,  135,  136 

Galvanometer,  200 

Galvani,  138,  200 

Galvanization,  220 

Gardner,  265 

Gas  engine,  291 

Gas  mantle,   302 

Gaza,  73 

Gaul,  86  to  95 

Geometry,  37 

Ged,   164 

Gimlet,  57 

Gilbert,  137,  138 

Giffard,  265 

Goodyear,  220,  284 

Gorrie,  245 

German  ConTederation,  261 

Groves  gas  battery,  267 

Green,  269 

Gramme,  283 

Gorham,  286 

Greener's  hammerless  gun,  294 

Graphophone,  302 

Goldschmidt,  327 

Greece,  45 

Greek  fire,  96,  97 

Gravitation,  Law  of,  144 

Great  Eastern,  266 


352 


INDEX 


Guericke,  142,  143,  148,  149,  216 

Guttenberg,  7,  111 

Gunpowder,  39 

Gun,  101  to  110 

Gun  carriage,  108 

Guthrie,  215 

Gun  cotton,  240 

Gun  director  system,  312 

Gyroscopic  compass,  326 

Gyroscopic  stabilizer,  327 


H 


Hannibal,  84,  85 

Hammurabi,  38 

Hadley,  145 

Hales,  184 

Hall,  308 

Hanaman,  327 

Harvey,  140,  141 

Hebrews,  45 

Hellenistic  civilization,  76,  77 

Hargreaves,   172 

Hero,    149,   150,   151 

Heat,  a  measure  of  work,  212 

Henry,  214,  216,  252 

Helmholtz,  246 

Herman,  247 

Hand   photographic   camera,   298 

Harveyized  armor,  304 

Hertz,  304,  305 

Hewitt,  326 

High  speed  printing  press,  327 

Hibbert,  244 

Hoe,  235,  242 

Holy  Alliance,  260 

Howe,   236 

Hooke,  145,   162 

Homer,  205 

Horseshoe  machine,  218 

Huygens,    162 

Hydraulic  jack,    176 

Hydraulic  dredge,  302 

Hyatt,  284 


Ice   machine,   245,   287 
Induced    currents,    214 
Image   making,   117,    118 
Ingersoll,   284 

Illuminating    water-gas,    286 
Induction    transmitter,    293 
Incandescent   lamp,   292 


Interrupted    thread    screw,    242 
Internal    combustion   engine,   291 
Ironclads,    248 
Invasion  of  England,  193,  194 


Jablochkoff,    290 
Joly,  327 
Jacobi,  218,  221 
James,  217 
Jansen,    135 
Jewish  religion,  45,  46 
Janney,  285 
Judaism,  263 

K 

Kaleidoscope,  186,  187 
Kepler,  134 
Kinetograph  and  kinetoscope, 

310,  328 
Kingsland,  265 
Kirchoff,  266 
Knitting   machine,    184 
Konig,   186 
Kodak  camera,  304 
Koniggratz,  280 
Koch,  295,  298 
Krag-Jorgensen  rifle,  309 
Krupp,  243 
Kuno,  298 


La  Gloire,  265 

Laennec,  197 

Lavoisier,  171,  172,  208,  211 

Laplace,  209 

Laws  of  electromagnetic 

induction,    247 
Laws   of  electrostatic 

induction,  247 
Laws   of   electrolysis,   247 
Laughing  gas,  234 
Legion,  83 
Leges  Juliae,  85 
Leupold,  153 
Leyden  jar,  168,  169 
League  of  Armed  Neutrality,  192 
Leibig,  215,  217 
Lee  magazine  rifle,  294 
Lithography,  177 
Liquefaction  of  gases,  201 
Link  motion,  217 
Light,  235 


INDEX 


353 


Liberal  government,  255  et  seq 

Lister,  274 

Linotype   machine,   301 

Linde,  312 

Liquefaction    of   air,    312 

Lippman,  327 

Locomotive,    185 

Long,  221 

Loom,   positive   motion   weaving, 

284 

Lowe,  286 
Loeffler,  298 
Luther,    130  et  seq 
Lundstrom,  247 
Lumiere,  327 
Lyall,  284 


M 


McCormick  Reaper,  218 

McMahon,  281 

Machine  for  making  barbed-wire, 

286 

Mack,  194 
Maddox,  284 
Magazine  gun,  243 
Magellan,   128 
Magneto  electric  machine,  216, 

217 

Malleable  iron  castings,  184 
Marathon,   59,  60 
Marble,  302 
Marconi,  306,  313 
Martel,   Charles,    110 
Martin's  steel  process,  274 
Match-making  machine,  242 
Matteson,   302 
Maxim,   327 
Melhuish,  247 
Merchant  adventurers,  257 
Mercury-vapor  light,  326 
Mergenthaler,    301,    308 
Merkle,   177 
Merrimac,  C.  S.  S.,  68,  270,  271, 

272 

Metternich,  261,  262 
Michoux,  265 
Middlings    purifier,    287 
Militarism,  282 
Military  machine,  279  et  seq 
Miller,  180 
Miltiades,  59,  60 
Milton,  205 
Miners'  safety  lamp,  183,  184 


Mohammedanism,  263 
Moltke,  279 

Moncrief's  disappearing  gun- 
carriage,  276 

Monitor,  68,  270,  271,  272 
Monroe   Doctrine,   256 
Montgolfier,   175 
Morse,  215,   232,  233,  234 
Morton,  215 
Motion,   Laws   of,    144 
Multiphase  currents,  303 
Mungo  Ponton,  221 
Murdock,  184 
Muschenbroek,   168 
Musical  telephone,  267 
Muybridge,  310 
Mythology,  53 

N 

Napier,  136,  137 

Napoleon,  187  et  seq,  257 

Nasmyth,  221 

Needle  telegraph,  220 

Nege,  277 

Neilson,  213 

Nelson,  190,   192,   194,  197 

Newcomer,  153 

Newton,  Isaac,  143,  144,  145 

Nicholson,  186 

Nickel    steel,    308 

Nicolaier,  298 

Niepce,  181 

Nineveh,  39 

Nitroglycerin,  241 

Nobel,  277 

O 

Oersted,   198,   199,  200 
Ohm,  213 

Oleomargarine,   277 
Omphalopsvchites,    345 
Open-hearth  process  for  steel- 
making,  274 
Ophthalmoscope,  245 
Otis,  272 
Otto,  291 


Pacinnotti,  217,  283 
Page,  245 
Painting,  56 
Paper,  101 


354 


INDEX 


Papin,  153 

Papyrus,   25,   33 

Parson's  steam  turbine,  309 

Pasteur,  298 

Patent  office,  111 

Paul,  172 

Peloponnesian  War,  63,  66 

Pericles,  62 

Perkins,  265 

Perry,  315 

Persian  Gates,  74 

Phalanx,  68,  69 

Philip  of  Macedon,  66,  67 

Phoenicians,  45 

Phoenix,  181 

Phonetic  writing,  27 

Phonograph,  291 

Photographic    roll    films,    247 

Photography,    181,   221 

Photometer,  212 

Pjctet,  287 

Picture-writing,   27 

Pitt,  261,  262 

Pixii,  216 

Pizarro,  129 

Plante,  266 

Platinotype  process,  285 

Plotz,   329 

Pneumatic  caissons,  221 

Pneumatic  tire,  235 

Pneumonia  bacillus,  295 

Poetry,   62 

Porus,  75 

Potassium,  182 

Portable  fire  engine,  214 

Portland  cement,  291 

Prehistoric  inventor,  23 

Primeval  weapons,   1  to  20 

Printing,    110  to   115 

Principia,  143 

Priestley,   171 

Power-loom,  175 

Printing  press,    186 

Princeton,  U.  S.  S.,  220 

Printing  telegraph,  237 

Prescott,  302 

Punic  Wars,  84,  85 

Pump,  243 

Pulmotor,  327 

Pyramids,  35,  36 


Quadruplex  telegraphy,  285 


Radio  activity,  314 

Radio  control  of  moving  vessels, 
326 

Radium,  314 

Ramsay,    180 

Rear  driven  chain  for  bicycles, 
302 

Reece,  298 

Regenerative   furnace,  265 

Reis,   267 

Renaissance,  112 

Revolver,   219 

Rock  drill,  247 

Rocket,  185 

Rontgen,  293,  312 

Rubicon,  94 

Ruhmkorff  coil,  246,  293 

Ruin  of  the  machine  of  civiliza- 
tion, 226-230 

Rumford,  212 

Runge,  218 

Russian  campaign,  1%,  197 


Savannah,  first  ocean  steamship, 

202 

Sailing  vessels,  47 
Sadowa,  280 
Santos   Dumont,  326 
Safety   matches,  247 
Savage,  241 
Sargon,  41 
Salamis,  61 
Savery,   152,   153 
Sennacherib,  41 
Sculpture,  62 
Schweigg,  200 
Screw  propeller,  220 
Schonbein,  240 
Scott  Archer,  245 
Schultze,  273 
Schultz,  302 
Schmid,  298 
Schneider,  308 
Sextant,  145 
Senefelder,   177 
Seebeck,  200 
Self-induction,  215 
Seytre,  221 
Selligne,  221 
Sewing-machine,  236 
Seymour,  245 


INDEX 


355 


Secondary  battery,  266 

Self -binding  reaper,  286 

Shakespeare,  205 

Shintoism,  263 

Shoemaking  machine,  269 

Shell  ejector,  274 

Sholes,  276 

Siemens,  216,  265,  275,  294 

Silencer  for  fire  arms,  327 

Smeaton,    153 

Smith  and  Wesson  revolver,  247 

Smokeless  gunpowder,  273 

Sodium,  182 

Soubeiran,  215 

Sobrero,  241 

Sleeping-car,  265 

Sparta,  62 

Spinning  machine,   172 

Spectroscope,  266 

Sprague  electric  railway  and 

motor,  303 
Sperry,  326 
Statuary,  56 

Steam  engine,   150  et  seq 
Stereotyping,  164 
Stevens,   181 
Steel  pen,  184 
Stephenson,   185,  218 
St.  Vincent,  190 
Stethoscope,  197,  246 
Sturgeon,  217 
Steam  whistle,  218 
Steam  hammer,  221 
Steam  presser  gauge,  244 
Stereoscope,  244 
Steam  saw-mill,  291 
Steam  plough,  294 
Sternberg,  295 
Suez  Canal,  237 
Sulphite   process,  276 
Syria,  45 
Syphon,  286 


Tainter,  302 
Talbot,  221 
Talleyrand,  261,   262 
Taoism,  39,  263 
Taupenot,  265 
Telephone,   287 
Telescope,   135,   136 
Telescope  sight   for  ships'  guns, 
312 


Tesla,  303 
Themistocles,  61 
Thermit  welding,  327 
Thermometer,  142 
Thermopile,  200,  201 
Thermos  bottle,  20T 
Thompson,  Elihu,  302 
Thomson,   Benjamin,  212 
Thomson,  Sir  William,  286 
Thorium,  314 
Threshing-machine,    177 
Thurber,  231 
Tilghman,  276 
Time-lock,  241 
Torpedo-plane,  328 
Torricelli,  142 
Toulon,  177 
Trafalgar,  195 
Triger,  221 
Tubular  boiler,  214 
Tungsten  electric  light,  327 
Turtle   for  printing  presses,  245 
Twine-binder,  286 
Typewriter,  231,  276 
Typhoid  bacillus,  295 
Tyre,  72,  73 
Tyrian  Dyes,  48 

U 

Ulm,  194 

Uranium,  314 

Use  of  colodion  in  photography, 

245 
Uxian  pass,  74 


Vasco  da  Gama,  128 
Van  Depoele,  302 
Veneti,  90 

Vercingetorix,  93,  94 
Vieille,  273 
Villeneuve,  193,  194 
Visibility  of  objects,  116,  117 
Volta,   138,   170,   171 
Voltaic  arc,  182,  183 
Vulcanizing  rubber,  220 

W 

Walker,  213 
Walkers,  304 
War-chariot,  42 


356 


INDEX 


Washington,  173  et  seq 

Watch,  162 

Watch-making  machine,  245 

Water-gas,  221 

Watt,  154  et  seq 

Webb- feeding  printing  press,  274 

Wedgwood,    181 

Wegmann,  286 

Wells,  234 

Welsbach,  302 

Westinghouse,  278,  285 

Wheatstone,  220 

Wheatstone  bridge,  285 

Wheel,  42,  43 

Whitehead  torpedo,  275 

Whitney,  177 


Wilde,  275 

Willis,  285 

Wireless  telegraph,  305,  306 

Wohler,  213 

Wood,  Henry  A.  Wise,  318,  327 

Wood  pulp,  247 

Woodruff,  265 

Worm,  245 

Wright,  Orville  and  Wilbur,  326 


Xerxes,  60 

X-Rays,  293,  312,  313 


Zankerode,  293 


LIBRARY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

MAIN  LIBRARY 
CIRCULATION  DEPARTMENT 

THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  BEFORE  CLOSING  TIME 
ON  LAST  DATE  STAMPED  BELOW 


LIBRARY  USE      MAR  1  0  197B      ' 


196] 


. 


1961 

"iSG- 


D 


4PM 


7-r 


LD21- 


LD62A-30m-7,'73 
(B2278lO)9412-A-32 


General  Library 
University  of  California        p  » 
Berkeley 


Jit    * 


